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Manalapan,
NJ
I
am the mother of a beautiful 2 1/2 year old girl named Shannon.
My husband and I were thrilled to find out I was pregnant
again, around the end of August, when Shannon was 15 months
old. I have pretty bad "morning sickness" (which
lasts all day). But knowing that it is just for a few months,
and I will have a beautiful baby makes it all bearable. We
had an ultrasound test at 17 weeks that showed all was well
and that the baby was a boy. I already had a name in mind,
James Daniel.
Everything
was going well and we had a wonderful Christmas. Then on December
31, 1999-(New Year's Eve-Y2K), I began to feel achy and had
a mild fever. I was 22 weeks pregnant and thought I might
be getting the flu. I started having Brackson Hicks contractions
which is normal at this stage of pregnancy. To my surprise
the contractions kept coming closer and closer together. I
thought something was wrong, but kept saying "This will
stop, this will stop." I was in denial. I spent the day
with my daughter waiting for my husband to come home early,
so we could go out to celebrate the new millennium. I put
my daughter down for a nap at 3pm. At that time my contractions
were 15 minutes apart. I finally called the doctor. When he
called me back the contractions had accelerated to 5 minutes
apart. The doctor said I should call 911 and get to the hospital.
I called my Mom to come and stay with my daughter. The EMS
team showed up and my husband was right behind them. I never
saw him look so scared before in his life.
They
took me in the ambulance as the labor progressed. I wanted
to scream and cry but was in heavy labor and had to breathe
as the contractions were now coming every minute. The female
EMS technician placed a fetal monitor on my belly without
saying a word to me.
We
both listened and heard nothing. No heartbeat. My baby had
already died. Ten minutes later I delivered a one pound six
ounce baby boy, born still. He looked perfect. Ten fingers
and ten toes but the same color blue as the sky. The hospital
staff left the room and my husband and I held him and cried
and cried. What went wrong? The death of our baby, James Daniel
McDade, was a mystery.
The
doctor recommended that we have an autopsy and we agreed.
One month later we received the results: it was food poisoning
named Listeria. Something I had eaten killed my baby.
I thought back and remembered feeling ill three weeks before,
after eating a ham sandwich. I had flulike symptoms that day,
fever and chills that lasted about 8 hours and went away.
I thought I was fine and it had passed. But what I didn't
know was that I had contracted Listeria from a pre-sliced
prepackaged deli ham. I am very careful about what I eat when
I'm pregnant. All meats are cooked well done, all produce
is washed thoroughly and I avoid caffeine, alcohol and artificial
sweeteners. I was never told of the risk other specific foods
carry to the pregnant woman and her developing baby. I know
the general public is not aware of this either. The food supply
needs to be safe for the health and well-being of our families.
Maybe
by me speaking out on this issue, the passing of my son was
for a reason and his life was spared for others. Thank you
for your time.
Copyright
2001 by author: Anne-Marie (James' mother)
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