Hi,

I'm Heather, I'm 34 years old and at the age of 33, I had my 3rd child, and was diagnosed with Postpartum cardiomyopathy, Respirtory and Chronic Systolic Heart Failure 2 days after his birth.

Yep, it was a lot to deal with, and most days,still is.  I had the perfect life, I stayed at home with my other two children, and lived life freely.  I had an interesting pregnancy, but nothing out of the norm.  I had the normal shortness of breath, heartburn, weightgain, edema, all normal signs of pregnancy, right?  Think again!  Yes, they do go with pregnancy, but are also MAJOR signs of cardiomyopathy and heart faliure.  I had no clue.  My blood pressure didn't tell my dr's anything though.  It is normally low, but I knew it was high when it reached 139/85, (my normal BP is 85/65).  But my Dr. just thought I was starting to have the normal range of bloodpressures.  Note, this didn't happen until my last few weeks of pregnancy.

I was having a scheduled C-section, so I knew the exact day and approximate minute of my baby boy's arrival.  He was born 12-31-08 at 8:13am.  I was awake and coherent for the surgery but knew that something wasn't right.  I didn't feel good.  I knew how c-sections went, as this was my 2nd one.  So I knew the surgery was going right, and that in fact there was something else going on.  I tried to tell my Dr.'s but they thought it was just nerves.  I saw my baby boy and was sedated shortly after.  I woke up in recovery and still felt horrible.  I just felt like I couldn't breath, like a semi was parked on my chest keeping my lungs from expanding for air.  I went through this for 2 days, along with adding new symptoms along the way.  I started gasping for air, coughing up blood and was put on breathing treatments for phneumonia.  Keep in mind, I'm in rural KS and they were following protocols, (we found out later from my cardiologist, that my diagnoses are a 1 in 17,000 of all pregnancies).  Thus why my Dr.'s and nurses didn't get it diagnosed properly.  My condition kept worsening until I had several Dr.'s in my room going over living wills with my husband and I.  I was informed after coughing up large amounts of blood and my chest x-rays came back, that they feared pulmonary embolism, and I was once again sedated and put on a ventilator to keep my lungs functioning until I could get to Tulsa. 

on Jan. 2, 2009, I left my 2 day old baby in the hospital and was flown out to Tulsa.  The entire time, my family and husband living with the NOT knowing and trying to get arrangements made to make the trip to be by my side.  It was said that my survival rate was very grim to say the least.  I was kept sedated until I was removed from the vent. and was given my new life.  I was the miracle of the day at Saint Francis after 2 1/2 days of being there.  I came from respitory and heart failure.  One week later, I held my baby again for the first time I could remember.  I was discharged and here I am today.

I sustained damage to my heart from the time lapse of treatment, but have made striving improvements as well.  Upon my arrival at Saint Francis, my heart functioned at 20%, a year later, (this last spring), my heart functions at 50%.  I owe my recovery to eating healthy, getting excercise regularly, and trying to maintain a stress free life.  I have lots of things I can no longer do, but there is so much more that I enjoy as well.

The entire point of my story is to share with you that not all symptoms are what they seem.  Know your body, and when things don't seem right, keep at it until someone listens.  My life was saved, and I am now 20 months into a NEW and BETTER life.