Help Maddie, Ryan and their twins through Crisis

Three weeks ago, my world came to a crushing halt. While cooking dinner, I got a call from Maddie telling me we needed to get to St. Joe’s because she was having an emergency C-section. She was 29 weeks and 4 days. Cam and I immediately got into the car and headed to the hospital. When we got there, we joined Maddie and Ryan in a labor and delivery room. Two of Maddie’s doctors, who I now refer to as the A-Team, told us that Maddie’s preeclampsia, which she was just diagnosed with the previous week, was putting us in a balancing act between saving the twins and saving my daughter. We obviously said it was needed to be done. After the surgery, Ryan, Cam, and I waited for Maddie to be in recovery and then moved back to a labor and delivery room. It was pretty late, and the nurses assured us that Maddie was doing fine and we should go home to get some rest. We begrudgingly left Maddie after hugs and kisses. The babies were stable, although we hadn’t seen them. We all got home and had fallen asleep for maybe an hour when I got a call from Ryan saying that they were transferring Maddie to ICU because she had become non-responsive. I woke Cam up and we left. We are closer to the hospital than Ryan, but they wouldn’t tell me anything when we got there because he wasn’t with us. When he arrived, they told us that she had been put on a ventilator and was in ICU. To see your child hooked up to so many machines keeping her alive was more than any of us could handle. We all broke down.

The doctors told us that she had a very rare preeclampsia fatty liver disease. Her liver enzymes, which should be between 13-39, were 6,820! The first 24 hours were crazy. She didn’t really know we were there, but we didn’t leave her side. Later in the day, one of her A-Team doctors came along with other doctors telling us that we needed her transferred to U of M for a possible liver transplant. I asked if we could have a day to decide, and they said they couldn’t risk having her get any worse. They wanted her moved within 8-12 hours. What was happening??!! My 29-year-old healthy daughter was in grave condition. Many more tears were shed by the three of us. I can’t begin to tell you the amount of love Ryan has for my daughter! He is amazing! At this point, U of M didn’t have a bed available for Maddie. It was a wait-and-see time for us. I truly believe it was God’s choice to keep her at St. Joe’s to let my little peanut show everyone how very strong she is.

Ryan still wouldn’t leave her side. At one point, he asked Cam and me if we wanted to go see my lovely grandchildren. Of course, it was a yes! We went to the NICU, and these little babies were hooked up to all kinds of things just like their Momma. Lucas weighed in at 2 lbs. 0.3 oz. Emerson weighed in at 2 lbs. 6.8 oz. Lucas came out kicking and was pretty active. Emerson was less mobile but would grip our fingers when we touched her. They were amazing gifts from God, and they, like their Momma, were and are fighters. After 4 days in ICU, still at St. Joe’s, Maddie’s liver enzymes had begun to come down. They took her off the ventilator, and she got to be taken via a wheelchair to see her babies. It was amazing to see her with her babies! They both quickly responded to her touch and raspy voice. Emerson started kicking her legs, and Lucas calmed down. Maddie had to have 7 pints of blood and platelets while in ICU. She had to have two additional surgeries to help stop the bleeding and had to have surgery to remove enormous clots from her uterus. She was so swollen with extra fluid, she was unrecognizable. To see my miracle daughter today, you’d never know it. All three of them were eventually transferred to U of M, where C.S. Mott was better equipped to care for the babies. They are still fighting for their lives. Maddie was discharged from the hospital! She isn’t in any shape to go back to work, and Ryan is still by her side. We have no idea what bills are going to come in and what care the babies will need. If you know me at all, you know that I try to take care of things on my own, but this is just too much for me to handle. I know if it wasn’t for God and prayers that we wouldn’t have my daughter and grandbabies. Being a parent, you try to make everything better for your kids, and it kills me to feel so helpless in this situation. Please know that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.