It wasn’t until a week or so after my son was born that I really understood how close I was to losing my wife.
Zacharie‘s birth wasn’t easy. We tried to induce labour for an entire day with no results, and we had to come back the next day for a second effort. An epidural numbing my wife’s lower half had her pushing to exhaustion without feeling a thing. By the time our son was ready to be born, she was all “pushed out,” and a vacuum was needed to help.
A day and a half of pushing, trying, and doctors handing off to one another and our son was finally born. But the adventure was just beginning. We were in hospital for a few nights after our son was born, and one night when my wife went to the bathroom, a plum sized clot fell to the ground as she reached the door.
I got a nurse, they looked at her, and deemed everything was alright, and she went back to bed, weak and groggy. It wasn’t until the next day when my mother, a retired nurse, insisted that they check her blood work to make sure she was healthy. My wife looked pale, had no energy, and finally the nurses agreed – only to discover my wife would desperately need 2 units of blood. She had hemorrhaged in the night and had she not gotten the blood when she did, things could have been much worse.
My mother didn’t mince words, “we could have lost her.”
Mother’s Day is a pretty powerful celebration for me. I’m lucky. I have a beautiful wife who is a wonderful mother to two great boys. Our family made it, not every family is so lucky.
Approximately 830 women worldwide die from pregnancy or childbirth related complications every single day. This Mother’s Day, ADRA Canada is asking Canadians to show their heart for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health by helping to bring attention to the issue through social media.
Join the #Heart4MaternalHealth movement by sharing a photo or video with your hand placed over your belly in the shape of a heart and encouraging your followers to participate in this powerful campaign. You can follow the #Heart4MaternalHealth campaign on Facebook ( @4maternalhealth) on Twitter (@4MaternalHealth) and on Instagram (@Heart4MaternalHealth).
This post is sponsored by ADRA Canada