Terina Rose

Ours is a story of both survival and loss. My name is Terina and I am a sepsis survivor. My husband Johnny and I have 3 daughters, Kathryn, Emma, and Lily. We had 1 son, Will who tragically we lost to sepsis. Here is our story.

As I mentioned above, we have 3 beautiful daughters. Kathryn is now 16, Emma is now 13, and Lily is now 6. Last year around this time we found out, much to our surprise, we were expecting. We were not planning to have any more children. I was 40 and my husband 41. I had to be on bedrest with Emma and Lily, so we knew we did not want to risk another pregnancy. All of my girls were born early, 36 weeks, 32 weeks, and 34 weeks (in that order), all healthy. So we were scared, but prepared for yet another round of bedrest. Sure enough, at 17 weeks I get a cerclage (a stitch to keep my cervix closed) and I was on bedrest. To keep up with the surprises, we found out a couple weeks later we were having a boy. Our youngest said she knew it was a boy because she already had 2 sisters. (Sepsis and Pregnancy & Childbirth)

At 25 weeks my water broke. I was taken to Ohio State University hospital. They were able to keep me from going in to labor. Ironically, they took the cerclage out because of an increased risk of infection. I was doing well. The baby was also doing well. If they can keep you pregnant and healthy, and the baby healthy, it is better to keep the baby growing inside.

One week later, on July 12, 2011, all of that changed. I woke up that day feeling fine. After being on the monitor to check for the baby’s heart rate and me for contractions (something they do every day) I took a shower. After my shower, I went back to bed. Suddenly I started shaking, almost to the point of convulsions. I called the nurse. I now had a temperature of over 102 degrees. They tried to find Will’s heartbeat. They couldn’t so they got the doctor to do an ultrasound. They were not able to see a heartbeat.

Within an unbelievably short amount of time I was sick and getting sicker and our precious baby boy was gone. Gone before he had a chance to live. They quickly induced my labor, and at 1:17pm on July 12 our very beautiful 2lb 3oz, 15-inch baby boy was born. Will Allen Rose was so precious and perfect, except he was not breathing. I got to hold him and kiss him and tell him how much we loved him. I gave him to my husband to hold. I was beginning to have trouble breathing. Before they could get me out of labor and delivery I was sedated and put on a ventilator. I was on it for 2 days. I was in ICU for almost a week.

It was discovered that I went in to septic shock due to e coli. We don’t know where or when I got it. My husband said they thought it could have possibly been dormant. I was on antibiotics since my water had broken, however, not strong enough to fight something like e coli. I have recovered physically, but the pain of losing our child is as strong as ever. This is something that could not have been foreseen. We know that I had the absolute best care that was humanly possible. I cannot express how thankful I am to God and the staff at OSU for that care and that I am able to be here to watch our family grow up.

I am thankful every day for the weeks of feeling Will move and kick. We all love him very much, and miss him every day, every minute of our lives. He will always be in our hearts.