Chance's Story   — Alecia Cramer, MO, USA

I went into get pitocin at 6am. They gave it to me through an IV and broke my water 13 hours later. I had to get a c-section because i would not dilate past a 4. My son, Chance, was born fine (Apgar scores normal), but he kept making a funny noise. I told the nurses something was wrong. So did my mother. They told me it was normal. He would not sleep either and I knew that was what babies did. They made me second guess myself because he was my first child. The next day at 7am when I asked for him the nurses came in and told me that they were sorry to inform me that my son had been having seizures since 4am! (probably since when I said but they kept ignoring me!) They told me a doctor would be there in about an hour so I flipped out and called everyone I could to get to the hospital and to fly there. It took them two hours to stabilize my son. We met our friends and family at the hospital and eventually the hospital staff told me my son had spinal meningitis and group B strep but that they were not sure how he got it. My son lay there looking like a science experiment for a month and is still on seizure meds to this day. To find out that an antibiotic could have prevented this is sickening to me! No one understands my son at all. He is two years old now and is very different in many ways from other kids his age. He is also very emotional. He goes to therapy and will have to go to an IEP school. His hearing tests are not normal and he is on disability. I am having another baby soon and I am terrified. I did not get to hold or feed or nurture my baby for the first month of his life! And now i doubt my abilities as a good mother everyday. I love my baby and I can not believe so many people have also been through this exact same thing. What frustrates me is I didn`t have a clue about how common this was until I started doing research on my own. People need to be AWARE of this.