Greeting death to welcome life
Bonjour,
Do you like the headline of this post? Très dramatique, non? My mama is the theater fan, but apparently I brought some drama of my own when I entered this world. The birth was no ‘marche dans la parq’. People have been asking how my mama is doing. She’s physically recovering and emotionally still fragile but also a warrior — you know how she likes to embrace duality. Oh, mama.
I’ll share a letter my ‘Meme’ Kathi wrote, which pretty much sums it up. (Trigger warning for birth trauma. I may be a baby, but even I know to emotionally prepare people for the hard stuff).
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Dear Friends of Shannon,
Wanted to send an update on momma and baby. You all received the announcement email about Mirabelle, but I know many of you have been asking about how Shannon is doing.
It wasn’t an easy experience, for any of us, but we all know the most important thing is that now Mirabelle and Shannon are safe. Shannon insists “it was all worth it” of course.
Here are details for those interested:
Shannon was induced with Misoprostol after passing her French due date (41+4) and still showing no signs of effacement or dilation. She had shown signs of potential preeclampsia the week before so while she was hesitant to go this route, she also wanted to be safe and to give herself a few days so see if a more “gentle” induction could work (she says about this now “I should have just gone straight for the C-section!”)
After laboring for 24+ hours at the hospital, she was moved to the “salle nature”/delivery room. She was still only 4cm so the dr wanted to move to Petocin. After another 6 hours she took an epidural. She delivered vaginally, but unfortunately baby got stuck (Shannon says: “big head like her papa!”) and they needed to do two episiotomies. Baby came out 36 hours later at 4:25am and got immediate skin to skin with mama. Justin cut the cord.
When it was time to deliver the placenta, it was discovered Shannon had placenta accreta. She began haemorrhaging, and was briefly stabilised, but unfortunately began haemorrhaging again and went into shock. They performed abdominal surgery and a life-saving blood transfusion and was taken to a nearby ICU for the next 24 hours. We are very, very grateful to the skilled anaesthesiology, surgical and medical staff at Rive Gauche hospital in Toulouse, and to all the O+ blood donors we will never know. Shannon, who, if you know her well, is incredibly squeamish and hates having her blood drawn, has said that after this she intends to make blood donation a regular act of service in honor of this experience. We also joke that now she should have no problem getting a French visa renewal, considering she’s now fully French-blooded.
Justin stayed with Mirabelle giving skin to skin and tube feeding. They have a special bond, as you can imagine. We were able to visit Shannon in the ICU once she was stabilized, and even though Shannon couldn’t sit up on her own, she was allowed to try to breastfeed. Mirabelle was placed on her chest and immediately latched on, and they have been breastfeeding with Shannon’s milk ever since.
Shannon eventually returned to the maternity ward where the three of them stayed for another week while Shannon was monitored and allowed to recover. The maternity “puéricultrice” staff kindly helped Shannon and Justin get a few hours extra sleep by watching Mirabelle for a few hours at night in between feedings.
Shannon was released from the hospital and able to return home Wednesday July 19th. She is now able to walk, shower and move about independently. She is healing well but of course still has some recovery ahead. There are a few follow-up tests to be done to make sure there are no lingering complications, but is receiving thorough care.
Thanks for your patience with my update. It all happened so fast, and was quite scary as you might imagine, I wasn’t sure how to respond to many of your inquires until things were more stable. Shannon, Justin &
I have really appreciated hearing from people, even when we don’t respond, so feel free to send love and support.
Shannon says ok to share this info with others who you know care about her and would want to know.
💗, Kathi
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So that’s the hard stuff. But here’s some very cute pictures of me to soften to blow. You’re welcome.
Bisous,
Mademoiselle Mirabelle
