Tuesday, February 9, 2010 was life-changing. I woke-up that morning and thought it was just going to be another day. I was in a good mood. I even joked with my husband that I looked like a relative of the Great Pumpkin in the orange shirt I was wearing for an event that night since I was 33 weeks pregnant with our daughter Amelia. My volunteer, Jim, came in that morning and we were joking around and having good chats. That afternoon at lunchtime I went to the chiropractor. Afterwards I returned to the office to tie up some things before leaving to setup for the event.

About 3:45pm I started getting abdominal pains. I've since been told those are Braxton-Hicks contractions. I just thought Amelia was moving around and trying to find a more comfortable spot. So, I continued on my way to the party store to pick-up balloons and then finally, to the pizza place where I was hosting the event. All was going well and I was just hoping people were going to show-up. My co-worker ran home to nurse her son and bring him back to help me out. With everything all setup I remembered my camera was in the car. I headed out to the car to grab it and when I went to head back inside I got really dizzy. I THINK that I squatted down beside the car to brace myself but I'm not really sure...

The next thing I remember is that I was lying on something cold but I didn't know where I was or why there were a bunch of people gathered around me and kind of yelling at me. Even more confusing, I couldn't figure out why a firetruck was pulling in and the responders were approaching me. Very quickly I realized I was lying on the cold asphalt of the parking lot by my car outside the pizza place. I tried to get up and was pushed down by 10 or more hands. It was then that I realized my pants were wet and I wasn't having abdominal pain. Unfortunately for all the nice men helping me, I started bawling and couldn't form a sentence no matter how hard I tried.

When the ambulance showed up the firefighters and EMTs loaded me up and I was on my way. The back board was excruciating and I was nervous that I still hadn't felt Amelia move. When we got the hospital I was left on the back board wearing a neck brace. That's how poor Shaun found me when he arrived. I don't think he had ever been so freaked out in his life. Finally they got me off the back board and out of that neck brace. A nurse then came in with a Doppler to check Amelia's heart rate. She made a comment about how she wasn't good at doing it and then kinda laughed as it took her a good 5 minutes to find the heart beat. It was the LONGEST five minutes of my life. And the scariest.

From there they moved me up to Labor & Delivery so Amelia & I could get checked out since the ER doctor wasn't sure if my water had broken or not. Up in L&D I was examined and had the fetal heart rate monitors strapped on. My water hadn't broken and Amelia was looking good. So, the OB doctors wanted to figure out what caused me to pass out. At that point they did an EKG on me. The results came back abnormal so it was decided I would be transferred down to the cardiology floor for overnight monitoring.

The next morning I was hoping to go home. That's when I learned not only had my EKG been abnormal the night before, my heart rate had been abnormal too. The doctors wanted to run a few more tests but they were pretty sure I had the same fatal heart condition my dad has - Prolong QT. It's hereditary and not only does my dad have it but his mom did too. The doctors told me it would require getting a defibrillator and pacemaker put in my chest the next morning.  I was 30 years old - were they serious?!?!? 

My husband and I freaked. What did this mean for Amelia? How would this affect my delivery? What risks were involved to me and my baby during the surgery? The list went on and on. Luckily, I had AMAZING doctors. My OB came in and spent lots of time with us and talking to my cardiology team (yes, I had a team - not just a doctor - talk about feeling important!), the anesthesiologists and the internal medicine doctor. She approved everything they were going to do for the surgery - from how pain would be managed during the procedure, medicine after the procedure and several other things. It was reassuring to have the doctors working together and all of them taking the time to make sure Shaun and I had all our questions answered and feeling comfortable.

Thursday morning was the surgery. I couldn't be put under since I'm pregnant so they used some local anesthetic in my chest and gave me something intravenously that made me feel dopey even though I could see and hear everything. The pain wasn't bad but I could feel the pressure of the doctor putting the device in and something kinda funny when he scrapped the tissue away from the muscle to make a "pocket."

The surgery went well and the recovery too.  My sweet baby girl was born about 5 weeks later.  I had to be induced due to preclamsia but I never got far enough along to deliver naturally.  Because of my Prolong QT I couldn't take Pitocin and ended up having a c-section.  After 30 hours of labor, I didn't care - I just wanted my baby. 

If I hadn't been pregnant, we probably wouldn't have learned about my heart condition.  Amelia saved my life.  Now when I nurse her and she pats my incision where my defibrillator/pacemaker is, I thank her and God that I lived that day to see her come into this world.  Since the condition is hereditary, we keep a close eye on Amelia.  She's had 3 EKGs so far and luckily, all have come back normal.