Doctors persistently suggested that she have an abortion, and in childbirth she almost died.
Now the Malton family has three children – three lovely girls. All five are really happy. But it could have been different: Axel, the head of the family, risked being left a single father with two daughters in his arms.
Large Malton family
When Hayley Malton turned 30, she found out that she was pregnant for the fifth time. She was very worried: the previous two pregnancies ended in miscarriages. And the first two – childbirth by caesarean section. Hayley and Axel rushed to the doctor.
“On the ultrasound, we ended up in the same room where we were once told about the deaths of our two children,” recalls Haley. – It was very disturbing. And then the doctor removed the sensor, gave me a box of napkins, said he was very sorry, and left. “
Haley was sure that the pregnancy had stopped again and she had to wait for the next miscarriage. But no, the heart of the six-week-old fetus was beating. However, the doctor said that she needed to terminate the pregnancy to prevent another miscarriage, which would most likely kill her. The thing is that the fertilized egg has attached to the scar from one of the previous cesarean ones. This is very dangerous: the scar can disperse, the uterus will rupture, and then the outcome of pregnancy will be unpredictable.
“The thought that I should kill my child was unbearable. The doctor said that he could not force me, but he warned that heavy bleeding could begin, and I would have big problems, ”says the mother of many children.
Hayley decided to take a chance and wait to see how things went.
“I googled like crazy looking for similar cases. But there was no information – the women either agreed to have an abortion or lost their child, ”Haley admits.
Every time a woman came for an examination, the doctor sent her for an abortion as indicated.
“If I hadn’t had two miscarriages before, I would most likely have obeyed. But I could not bring myself to end this life. I wanted this child so badly, ”she says.
Further, the situation only became more complicated. The baby grew towards the cervix, which increased the risk of hemorrhage. At 12 weeks, she was told that the suture had parted 2 centimeters, the placenta and the baby were just pushing it apart.
“I was lucky that it was not a sudden break, but a slow divergence. It wasn’t even painful, it was uncomfortable, ”continues Haley.
The doctors called her insane – she really took a lot of risks. But Hayley herself had the feeling that she was not fully aware of what was happening. She wanted to save the baby – at the 16th week, the couple found out the gender of the child.
“I couldn’t enjoy my pregnancy. She was too crazy. I couldn’t even watch ads featuring children, ”Haley recalls.
At 18 weeks, she was due for another examination. And it turned out that things were very bad: the placenta began to grow outside the uterus. It has already covered part of the intestines and the bladder, and is approaching the kidneys.
“I doubt you can handle it,” the doctor said honestly.
She was given five minutes to think – an interruption operation was about to be scheduled for next week. But Hayley still doubted: the operation was as dangerous as the prospect of carrying the pregnancy to the end. Therefore, she went home – to try not to reach, but to continue the pregnancy as far as possible. The risk of bleeding was very high: one awkward movement and a large blood vessel would burst. We managed to stay up until the 22nd week. And then there was a bleeding.
By the time Axel and Hailey got to the hospital, the bleeding had subsided. But Hailey was no longer released from the ward: she had to remain under observation.
“My doctor said the surgeons are afraid they won’t be able to save me. But there were no options anyway – they decided to wait until the 27th week, and then do the caesarean, ”says Haley.
But then everything went wrong. The day before the planned surgery, Hayley suddenly felt blinding pain and fainted. The pain was so severe that she could not breathe, and the doctors had to give her morphine. Haley is still unable to describe these feelings: as if she was being torn apart from the inside. An emergency operation was needed, and no one could predict its outcome.
… Axel sat under the door of the operating room for six hours. Surgeons needed not only to remove the child, but also to remove the overgrown placenta. Most of the organs were preserved, but the hysterectomy still had to be done. But most importantly, Hayley was still alive. So is their daughter Lilly Dot.
“It was about the size of a Mars bar. The doctors said that we were lucky that we survived, ”says the mother.
The sharp pain was caused by the placenta rejection. Haley’s uterus filled with blood, and little Lilly Dot swallowed it, which caused the baby to have a stroke. The doctors were not sure that the girl would ever be able to rehabilitate herself: she would be able to walk and talk.
“I was terrified. All the time I wondered what I had done, why I had doomed my child to such a life, ”recalls Haley.
After 89 days in the hospital, Lilly Dot was able to go home. She is now four years old. At two years old, she began to speak. She wore a special design on the legs to strengthen them. But she’s okay. And Hayley is happy. The only thing she regrets is that she signed a consent for the first caesarean. It was done because the woman was too tired in childbirth – she did not have the strength to push, although the disclosure was good. And the second caesarean was done to play it safe.
“If not for that, there would be no scars, there would be no breaks, and Lilly and I would be fine.”