I had been short of breath and extremely tired for three days. I was 36 weeks pregnant and figured it was due the baby being large or maybe I was having an asthma attack of some sort. After a night of being so uncomfortable and unable to sleep I finally went to the emergency room. They took chest xrays and gave me an asthma treatment. The doctor said it looked like I had pneumonia in one section of my lungs, but that I sounded clear of any wheezing... so it wasn't asthma. I was at a VA Hospital ER, so they called the hospital I was planning on delivering at and had me transported to it. The paramedics took me up to the labor and delivery floor and I was in the triage area. They monitored the baby for about an hour... meanwhile my breathing was getting worse.. they sent me for chest x-rays. They finally put me in a labor room and all of a sudden all hell broke loose. They were saying... that's not the baby's heart rate... that's the mom's. They brought in an echo machine and did an echo. Then they wisked up to the heart ward... kicking people out of an elevator along the way to get me there quick. The nurses from labor and delivery were hovering in the corner while the OB doctor and several other people swarmed around me. They told me they were going to put a tube down my throat to help me breath better. My heart rate was 157... and I was just laying there. The next thing I knew... two weeks later... I was waking up from a foggy drug induced sedation. I had had a c-section and the incision was already healed. Apparently what occurred after they knocked me out went like this... They sedated me and I continued to deteriorate. Then the baby vitals were going down... so they took me to the heart operating room and with a team of cardiologist standing by, performed an emergency C-section to get the baby out. She wasn't conscious when they got her out and they had to aggressively resuscitate her. She went to the Neo-natal intensive care unit and I was returned to the CCU. Cardiac critical unit.

I was kept sedated for the 2 weeks to give my heart a chance to rest and recuperate. The baby turned out to be 3 weeks early, but she was fine. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was perfectly healthy. I on the other hand was far from healthy. When I finally came out of the sedation, I could not walk. I couldn't lift a fork. My family and husband came to feed me. I was put on the heart ward for another week. Then sent home. I was wheelchair bound.. I could barely manage to walk to the bathroom. I was still short of breath. I had home nurses coming in to monitor my vitals and they kept telling me it was normal. I was on lopressor, digoxin, and zestral. The lopressor was hard on me... I would go for two hours or so after taking it... breathing hard and sweating... almost in a delirious state. I went back to the cardiologist and they admitted me back into the hospital for one day to administer a big dose of lasix. That seemed to help. I went home. Still weak and using a wheelchair. Two weeks later I ! was breathing hard again and had gained 5 pounds in one day. I called the doctor.. they told me to go to the hospital admitting office... I was admitted for a week. Turns out.. I was in heart failure again. They changed the lopressor to Carvedilol and found out I had a clot in my leg. I was put on coumadin. After I was released that time.. I started getting better.. almost overnight.. I started walking a little bit everyday... when I could walk the length of the house inside, I ventured outside. I would push the wheelchair as far as I could then my sister who had walked with me would push me back home. It worked slowly I built my strength back up and just got better and better as the days went by.

My husband is in the Army and had left for Korea one week before I had the heart failure. I was staying with my parents and a sister with my then 6 yr old son. So.. when I had the heart failure my parents contacted the military and my husband was there within 2 days. He got to stay for 3 weeks and then had to go back to Korea. It was awful to be apart when I was so sick, but staying with my family was such a blessing. They took care of my son and my newborn and me! Towards the middle of November I finally took over caring for the baby. I was so glad that I could finally hold her and love her. I could read a book to my little boy without running out of breath. I could actually hold the book! Those few months were a nightmare. But I came through it. Now, a year and a half later... I guess you could say I am totally recovered. I still get tired. I am not as energetic as I used to be. But I can take care of my kids and husband, clean the house, cook, drive and walk anywhere I want to go. I am alive and I can breathe. My cardiologist took me off of digoxin and carvedilol in October and in November did a MUGA scan that pinpointed what my EF was. At failure in Aug. 2000 it was 10%. The echo in the following Dec. showed 15%. Then in June it was 45%. October 2001 it was 45% then the MUGA scan showed 40% in Nov. So due to the drop, I was put back on carvedilol, but not the digoxin. Now my medications are Carvedilol 25 mg twice a day, Zestral 20 mg once day, Asprin 80 mg a day, Spironolactone 25 ng a day, and a multi-vitamin.

I had a scare a couple of months ago. I thought I was in heart failure again. I was short of breath and it felt just like heart failure. I went to the emergency room. They gave me lasix and then said I wasn't congestive, so they gave me an iv and pumped fluids. I had a bad stomache flu and was just dehydrated!! Wheew! The doctor said due to my condition it just hit me harder than it would if I was perfectly healthy. I really feel I am lucky to be here. The OB told my family that if I had waited to come to the ER two more hours me and the baby would have "pooped out". I am so glad we didn't. I just celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary with my husband. My little girl is a wonderful 17 month old. My 8 yr old is a well adjusted little boy. I am so lucky. I really feel that the Carvedilol (Coreg) is what put me on the road to recovery.