Cardiac arrest during elective caesarian section. Nevergoogle in need of a bit of support.

[nevergoogle]

DS3, who is a lovely bundle of loveliness, arrived by elective c-section a week ago.

For unknown reasons (so far) I had a cardiac arrest during the surgery where my heart slowed to a complete stop. I was resuscitated with CPR and adrenaline before surgery was completed and I was transferred to intensive care. All tests so far point to an otherwise healthy heart. (Usual obs monitoring, ECG's and US)

In time I will be having follow up input from cardiology/anaesthetics/obgyn/perinatal mental health team/intensive care psychology. I'm now home wearing a 24 hour heart trace.

We haven't announced this in RL (apart from close friends and family), so if you know me please be discrete, we're still getting our heads around what happened.

But just WTF? How do I process this? How do I rebuild myself, DH and I feel completely steamrollered. All the while DS3 is BFing on demand 2 hourly, and I have all the usual c-section recovery to contend with. The other two children aren't aware but are starting to question why I keep crying and me saying I'm just so happy to be their mum is being met with .

I have zero concentration, tv/radio/music is just noise, I can't face phonecalls/visitors and apart from a birth announcement on facebook I just can't do it. I'm not even sure i'm ready for this thread so may bow out if it gets overwhelming.

On the upside, DH and I are being spectacularly kind and patient with each other and the children. We are having lots of quality time and keeping life simple and there is an atmosphere of calm in between my moments of despair and sobbing.

Anybody been through similar?

re school run. twice i have been driven to the school, where i have pushed the pram and done the meet and greet with a few mum and kids. then my assistant (DH or friend) then has to push the pram up the hill to the car again.

it's really not that big an achievement.

if it helps, today, i am still in pyjamas at 3.30pm having just done my teeth.

but, i did put together a spectacular ancient grecian costume for DS1 for his greek day today so perhaps i am a little bit wonder woman had to sacrifice a pillow case but did enjoy getting the sewing machine out. we even managed a little photo shoot last night, but i did get stuck sitting on a low step. ying yang and all that!

Vair impressed at the Greek costume

And also at the poshness of a school that has Greek day. Is it eton?

Lovely magnolia too

Magnolia? is that the plant at the end of the terrace? who knew.

their school isn't posh. in fact, if they could get round to doing something academic every once in a while it would help. the greek day is their 'hook' for their terms topic. (it's a bit of a hippy kind of school)

I am a mine of useful information

So pleased to have the chance to show off for once < preen >

why oh why are my dodgy knees playing up now?

besides the aches and pains, i'm feeling a bit stronger mentally and have had a fairly good day.

Hi. Glad you had a better day.
I once broke my sternum and various ribs. It took me 6 months to lift my arms up without peeing myself. Give yourself time to heal :)
I now know who to ask when the next greek/victorian/elizabethan/ alien/astronaut darn day comes again! You know what you're doing, I just panic and hope it'll go away. The costume looks fab!

crikey, that's some picture i have in my head of you peeing when you lift your arms up!

when i was 16, my ribs and sternum took a bit of a beating in a head on RTA with a combined speed of 140mph to 0. i remember sneezing was the worst thing that time. and i don't think this is as bad tbh. it's now an underlying constant ache as opposed to making me cry.

the knees are worse now. so annoying.

and despite the great costume, i did get a telling off from DH for lifting the sewing machine off the shelf. my justification is that getting it off the shelf is easier than putting it back up. bad patient.

Just had a quick skim; it sounds like you're coming to terms with things NG. Babies give off heap big healing vibes; cute ones like your DS3 more so

Taken care xx

haha I know what you mean about being a bad patient. I had a hysterectomy three weeks ago and was gardening two weeks later and today took the DC swimming. I felt fine; if I didn't I wouldn't have done it! DH was all at me.

yes, you are supposed to be taking it easy!

pot kettle etc

Sorry! If it helps, I was wearing pads and showered frequently, it was only a little bit
Why are your knees painful? I'm not making a connection here, sorry.

i have no idea. They usually flare up if i have the flu or other virus.

I think it's from being generally run down, and a lot of sitting in one position to feed. Also going up and down the stairs every five minutes where I used to just bark orders from downstairs when i was pregnant.

Have they checked you for arthritis/lupus/other connective tissue disorder? I have mixed connective tissue order, with mainly lupus symptoms, so they treat me for lupus; joint pain, espcially in my knees, hips and fingers elbow and shoulder are my biggest symptoms (thankfully not usually all at the same time). Can also cause heart problems too, including pericarditis.

And my symptoms are always worse after illness or if I'm tired or have overdone things.

also thyroid issues common post partum too. have they checked your thyroid function?

had thyroid checked before, nothing found.
had blood tests when knees have flared up before and nothing rheumatic found also.
was put down to viral arthopathy.
responds well to short course of steroids but not sure if ok when bfing.

Never google congrats on lovely baby

Bit late to the thread but just to say a friend had an arrest during planned surgery, she described lots of the symptoms you've had not being able to concentrate, feeling in a bubble, pain and panic/palpitations on a night.

Just to reassure you it's normal after such a massive trauma.

She was able to debrief with the ICU team and anaesthetists which helped and symptoms have eased over time.

Thanks Chestynut. I have my debrief on Tuesday.

I feel I should go in with some questions.

What do I want to know? I don't think they will be able to answer the big one, Why?

I suppose, when did it start to go wrong, what they did, why did I lose some of my vision, when did i actually become stable, what are the chances of it happening again, am i now unable to have epidural for anything in the future?

Hello google. How's your recovery going?
Glad you've got an appointment quickly, as for what to ask. I'd get it in writing too in case you don't take it all in or forget.
Ask for a timeline of events, causes treatments reasons for treatments.who was involved and why.
Get them to walk you through from start to end.
If I think of anything else I'll get back to you.
I've got a meeting with ICU next week so I'll be looking out for your tips!
How's your lovely boy?

So many experiences, I am all ready reading this.

lunaticfringe how awful and painful, hoping you are well now x

nevergoogle your lacks of concentration and emotions sound a reasonable reaction to this kind of trauma! however counselling or advice on coping with the emotional aspect alongside new baby feeling could be very helpful.
I had a similar (ish) experience when ds born by ECS. I developed an infection post op, the wound fell apart, and the doctor would see me until after the bank holiday, by which time a had septicaemia and a large abscess. I required a ga for the 2nd surgery, which I had an anaphylactic reaction to, causing my heart to stop.
I too felt very distracted, and also very much that I had failed my ds by being ill. However, he thrived and I focused on him to help me cope, and things got easier.
I hope you get the answers you need and stay well in future.

I think I'm doing ok thanks. Moodwise I'm surprisingly well. Really enjoying my boys and bonding well with the little one. Physically getting stronger now that the rib and chest pain has resolved. I managed a walk in the woods today for a couple of miles.

Still struggling with memory and concentration. I'm sure this is made worse by disturbed sleep but I could happily watch a tv programme twice and still be surprised by the ending . I'm focusing on the tasks that need doing...laundry mostly! We've been using washable nappies since Saturday and getting that process perfected has been strangely satisfying. I've even begun a sewing project likely to take me forever given the windows of opportunity to actually get stuck in but I know that having a project always helps me to survive being off work. (I was even quoted as saying so in a mumsnet book )

I'm off to write down my questions for tomorrow. Will keep you posted. I really hope tomorrow doesn't give me more questions that answers and derail what feels like a good recovery so far.

Good Luck tomorrow lovely

How did you get on today google? What questions did you ask, do you feel they answered them well without rushing you?
If you came home with more questions then I'm sure you can have another appointment.
I've got my appointment next Thursday.