We decided to contact a lawyer to review our case after Hadley's death. To make a long story short, we did not receive a good explanation for why I needed to deliver when I did and even had our OB say he often wondered if things would have been different if he were there (ugh!) so we wanted to look into things further. I talked with the lawyer today who said they were sending us the medical records they reviewed and that they saw no evidence of malpractice. He said that it was identified that Hadley had sepsis so either way delivery was imminent. Has anyone heard of this? I didn't think sepsis could be contracted or detected in utero. This is completely different than what we had originally understood so know my emotions are all over the place. I guess I will have to wait for the records to get here but for now I'm trying to figure out how to deal with all of this new information.

Thanks for listening,

Jessica
Mom to Parker, McKenna, ^Hadley^ born 10/9/07 28w5d
little brother Sawyer
and big sister Ashlyn
www.fourplusanangel.com

Jessica,

I do not have any experience with this. I just wanted you to know we are here for you.

How is the pregnancy going?

www.havingtriplets.blogspot.com
www.thisisourLONGjourney.blogspot.com

Cathi

Our Precious Angels
^Raiden Landon^(B/D 10/17/08) 22wks
^Ryker London^(11/12/08-11/22/08)25w5d
^Gwyneth Bella^(11/12/08-12/1/08)25w5d

Megyn Velynda born 12/08/09 @ 35w 4 day

Jessica,

I am really sorry for your loss. I don't have any experience with this although I have often thought about pursuing the same thing. I believe 100% that my son should be here. I think there are different things that could have been done prior to birth and then also after birth.I still replay all of the events everyday. I'm sorry for the news that your received. I really don't have any advice but to say take one day at a time and surround yourself with people who care about you.

You will always get support and prayers here. Thinking about you and your family.

Dana

Jacob, Olivia, Benjamin
30 weeks 1 day

I don't have any advice about the legal battle but I did want to say that I think about a punishment for my Perinatologist dr. Jerry Yu from Kaiser who was I think very neglegent and even after my horrible ordeal of birth because he didn't bother to check if I was going into labor but rather thought I was having gas, a nurse told us that the NICU wasn't ready for our triplets, upon their birth. That leads me to believe that jerk of a doc. didn't do his job communicating with them. Oh, how I have such anger towards him. Its been two years and I still reel over what could have been different in order to have my angels. I wish you the closure you need. You are brave. Big hug. I haven't even made a complaint yet. I get so emotional.

Raquel
Mom to triplet angels: Sophia, Steven Jr. & Xavier b/d 25w4d (11/26/06, & Sweet baby Joseph (11/14/07-11/14/07)
Eliana Grace-God has answered
Born 4/03/09

Sepsis can be had in utero... I'm not sure how they think it was "detected" though. Was there an amnio? Did your blood levels indicate something?

West died in utero of Sepsis, but there was no diagnosis of him having contracted it until delivery -- mind you this happened very quickly for me -- a matter of a few hours. They knew he had passed and they knew something was very wrong as I had a 105.7 degree fever. Keaton and Rebecca passed away during delivery due to the spreading infection, and I landed a day in ICU followed by two more in the cardiac care ward, four more in the hospital in a general care area, and an additional week of IV antibiotics daily delivered by a nurse who came to my home because of complications from the infection that spread to me.

The reality of it is, with one baby with Sepsis, it spreads to you and to the others and quickly -- so, even undetected in utero once sepsis strikes, there is no cure for you except delivery (in my case accompanied by IV antibiotics).

From my experience, you are incredibly lucky that they detected it and delivered you, because you were likely days if not hours away from losing your survivors.

I AM NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, but this is the understanding I have acquired after scouring A LOT of research, my own and others' medical records and stories.

I would encourage you to review your medical records with your doctor. If that is not possible/practical, you might ask your attorney's office to put you in touch with their forensic nurse (most PI law firms have one or know of a few) whom you could pay independently to ask questions regarding your records.

I applaud you having the courage to investigate your rights following your loss of Hadley. I think, upon reflection and research, you may find your doctors should be thanked for catching this in early stage and thereby saving not only your life but the lives of Parker and McKenna as well. I know that doesn't make the pain of losing Hadley any less. I think however that the pain of guilt goes away when you find that you did not fail in protecting your babies.

Wishing you peace,

Steff

^West Rogers^, ^Keaton Edward^, ^Rebecca Joy^ 1/6/04



Missing their sister ^Maria Jose^ 4/7/04-5/10/04

Steff,

What you are explaining was exactly what I found when I started researching which is why I'm still confused. The report says I delivered because of dialation (I was only at 1 cm though) and a drop in heart rate for baby A (Parker) and that LATER testing showed she had sepsis so delivery would have been imminent. So I guess she must have been in the very early stages of sepsis. I am just amazed that it did not pass to Parker and McKenna as well. I did have a lot of complications afterwards, my blood pressure dropped, I had a seizure and ultimately needed two blood trasfusions and they were unsure why I had so much trouble. Now I wonder if I did have an undetected infection of some sort.

Either way, this gives me a whole new perspective on what my have happened. Parker's drop in heart rate may have saved two of my babies and myself... much different than carrying around all of the anger I have been towards the doctor who delivered for not trying harder to stop my PTL.

Thank you for sharing your story and I am so sorry for all of your loss.

Jessica
Mom to Parker, McKenna, ^Hadley^ born 10/9/07 28w5d
little brother Sawyer
and big sister Ashlyn
www.fourplusanangel.com

Jessica,
This is what happened to me, too.... Ethan (baby A) was "there" at 9pm, contractions picked up all night, no one believed I was in labor, and by 5am when I was writhing in agony they couldn't detect his heartbeat. He was gone and it was time for an emergency c section. I asked to be knocked out and probably 15 minutes later the babies were out. I had a fever, Emma had a fever and was CRITICAL (they didn't tell me but I found out later), we were both septic and on IV antibiotics. Ian, thank God, was fine. I'm convinced Ethan succombed to sepsis in a matter of hours and thats why I began contracting. Emma was probably next. I too feel its negligence on a lot of levels because after 5 weeks in the hospital at this point, I had "phlebitis" because my nurses wouldn't change my IV on a regular basis... 7 days at one point... My arm swelled up, I couldn't move it and I had a fever. I asked my Peri if this could make the babies sick, and he said "not likely".... Well Emma had it, I had it and Ethan died during labor so he was wrong. I think he knew it too because they all avoided me after delivery. Its like nurses and doctors get used to us "triplet lifers" in the hospital and begin to ignore us.
Anyway, didn't mean to dump my story on you but its SO SIMILAR to mine and I have all the emotions and anger and regret, etc that you are feeling. I blame myself because I couldn't protect Ethan. I just don't know when the pain stops. I have days when I understand, and days when I just ache...
Thinking of you and all the moms on this site (even though I lurk and never post. I always pray for each of you...)

Allison
Ian, Emma and ^Ethan^
31wks 6 days
www.tuckerbabies.blogspot.com

Allison,

I'm so glad you posted, I had no idea our stories were so similar. It is all so unfair and still makes me angry. There is just no way to make sense of any of it. I used to be an "everything happens for a reason" person but I think I lost that philosophy after losing Hadley.

Again, glad you posted. I think of you all the time!

Jessica
Mom to Parker, McKenna, ^Hadley^ born 10/9/07 28w5d
little brother Sawyer
and big sister Ashlyn
www.fourplusanangel.com

Im sorry, no words of advise, just wanted to wish you Good luck on the outcome of this.

I was told I went into PTL because Nicolle developed an in utero infection. I was told by the NICU that I had a staph infection and had passed it to her, and that is why she had her gut perforations and multiple system failure. However, my MFM office tested all of their placentas and they were all negative. I will never know...

What I know, is that my triplets were delivered at 5:40pm Thursday, and at 9:00am Friday Nicolle was very critical with multiple system failure, sepsis, lung hemorrage, multiple gut perforations, etc... There is no explanation of this except that she was septic in utero... some neos told me that the INDUCID I was given to stop the PTL has the side effect of causing gut perforations.

If anything I would like to pursue legal actions for not being told of the side effects of the INDUCID, but Im not strong enough to go down that road and relive everything.

Monique
Mom to 26.5wk triplets, born 09/14/06
^Nicole^
^Daniel^
Nathalie

That sounds EXACTLY like what happened to Hadley and I was on the same medication. I delivered Tuesday night and by Thursday morning she was critical with lung hemorrhage, gut perforations and now we find out sepsis as well. I was on the same medication and for a very long time!! I was never informed of those side effects either. Ugh.

Jessica
Mom to Parker, McKenna, ^Hadley^ born 10/9/07 28w5d
little brother Sawyer
and big sister Ashlyn
www.fourplusanangel.com

it really sounds the same... and now, if there are so many medications to prevent PTL, why on earth do they TAKE their chances on us? I was so scared of what was going on that I never thought of asking for side effects... IŽll never know if I would have chosen the treatment when presented the odds, but I could have made a choice. But thank God it didnt have the same effect on Daniel and Nathalie.

Monique
Mom to 26.5wk triplets, born 09/14/06
^Nicole^
^Daniel^
Nathalie

One of the medications I was taking was inducid too. No one told me that a side effect was gut perforations. I was told that it could close the heart valve before birth (that closes on it's own after birth) so I had a fetal echo every week and also that it could cause low fluid volume which happened a few times. They lowered my dose and then ultimatley took me off at 28 weeks. I wonder why they didn't give me something else. I keep reading about meg on this site but it was never discussed or offered when they knew I was in preterm labor. I wasn't offered to be hospitalized. Maybe if they would have hospitalized me and given that to me that I could have gotten some more time. Do you know if this drug can cause lung issues?

My husband and I aren't going to pursue legal action although I think about it. I don't want to get more upset or feel like am taking away time from my survivors. I already feel guilty about a lot of things. I don't think I am strong enought either.

We'll continue to think about you and your family

Jacob, Olivia, Benjamin
30 weeks 1 day