Many moms-to-be look forward to deciding what to dress their newborn baby in and how to decorate the nursery. But that was taken away for Katherine ‘Katt’ Campbell, who was instead faced with the devastating decision of whether to turn off her baby’s ventilator hours after birth.
Upon learning that she was pregnant in 2023, Campbell, from Ontario, Canada, was thrilled to expand her family once more. Her pregnancy seemed to be going well, until February 27, 2024, when Campbell’s life was changed forever.
She was at 35 weeks and four days gestation; Campbell, 29, told Newsweek that she remembers that day “quite vividly.” After taking her 2-year-old son to day care, she went to buy more baby clothes and then back home to relax.
But what unfolded in the following hours was far from relaxing.
“I remember being in discomfort, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for an almost-36-week pregnancy,” Campbell said. “I remember texting my mom around 11 a.m. and told her I wasn’t feeling well. I decided that, if I still felt unwell when my husband got home, we would go to the hospital and get checked.
“I started to feel worse, and it suddenly went from zero to 100 extremely quickly, and then came the sense of impending doom,” Campbell added.
She didn’t even have time to pick up the hospital bags she had packed in preparation before getting into her car and driving to the nearest hospital.
“I can’t even put into words the fear and the pain I felt. My stomach felt like it was being ripped to shreds, because essentially it was,” Campbell said.
By the time she arrived at the hospital, she was close to blacking out due to blood loss.
An examination showed that Campbell was almost 4 centimeters [1.6 inches] dilated but nurses had trouble finding the baby’s heart rate. Eventually, they managed to measure it, and it was dangerously low at 55 beats per minute.
The baby needed to be delivered immediately, and Campbell was rushed to the operating room because it was “as bad as could be.”
Campbell continued: “We called my husband at 2:21 p.m., Lincoln was born at 2:32 p.m., but they worked on him for 28 minutes before getting any vitals.
“I remember having the cleaning solution thrown onto my belly as they put me to sleep. I was certain I wasn’t going to survive because I lost a lot of blood. It was basically an episode of Grey’s Anatomy,” she said.
Lincoln Zachary was born via a crash Caesarean on February 27, 2024 weighing 6 pounds and 14 ounces.
Campbell suffered a concealed placental abruption, causing severe trauma to her and Lincoln. She had to be intubated and given multiple blood transfusions and platelets, while Lincoln was placed on a ventilator.
Placental abruption is a complication during pregnancy whereby the placenta separates from the uterus. When attached to the uterus wall, the placenta provides nutrients and oxygen to the fetus, but that decreases when it detaches.
It occurs in around 1 percent of pregnancies, according to The Cleveland Clinic, most commonly during the third trimester.
The symptoms include abdominal pain, contractions, uterine tenderness, back pain, and vaginal bleeding. It may feel like a sharp or sudden pain in the pelvic region or back, and the baby may move less.
Campbell’s husband arrived at the hospital to discover that his wife was in the Intensive Care Unit, and his newborn son was on life support. Her husband knew what that meant, and he advocated for Campbell to be woken up before making a decision about Lincoln’s life. For that, Campbell told Newsweek she is “eternally grateful.”
She was woken up at around 7 p.m. to see her husband, parents, sister, and best friend Natasha, who would also be Lincoln’s godmother, in her room.
“My immediate thought was, ‘This is really bad.’ I was on ventilator, which was a horrifying experience. My husband told me our baby was going to die, that my placenta had ruptured, and I bled a lot,” Campbell said.
As she was intubated, Campbell had to write on a piece of paper to communicate.
At 7:29 p.m., she made the heartbreaking decision to remove Lincoln’s ventilator, and he passed away on her chest at 8:52 p.m.
“Six hours and 20 minutes would never be enough time, but it’s all we got to have,” Campbell said. “I knew my son would never recover, so I couldn’t bear to let him suffer any longer. Being intubated myself while having to make this decision was gut-wrenching. All I wanted to do was scream, and I literally couldn’t.”
The grief lives with Campbell forever, and she has “never been the same since.” Her mental health suffered dramatically, and she went to therapy to work through the emotional trauma. After five months, she returned to work for some semblance of normality.
Campbell started sharing her experience on social media (@katt.shay on TikTok) to document her emotions and memories, and it has allowed her to cultivate a supportive following online. She has connected with other women experiencing their own grief from placental abruption, stillbirth, or miscarriage.
Not a day goes by that Campbell doesn’t think about Lincoln and the “life-shattering choice” she had to make. So, now, not only does she want to honor her son’s memory, but Campbell also hopes to raise awareness so other women know what signs to look out for.
Campbell said: “I never want to scare people, rather, raise awareness of what could happen. I so badly wish I had a sign. Even the doctors said my placenta ruptured in seconds; it was catastrophic immediately, and it was concealed, meaning no blood came out of my body.
“If something ever feels off, get checked. I wish I knew something was wrong before it was too late. Lincoln has taught me to never take anything for granted, because I know how quickly it can be ripped away.”
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