Hope in the Face of Adversity
Twylla Penner became pregnant in 2002 and 2004. Unfortunately, she lost both children. One during surgery to correct a heart problem and the second to a ruptured uterus.
She and her husband were devastated but not prepared to give up on being parents, but not very hopeful that they could have children.
In 2005, they were referred to Dr. Savas Menticoglou of the Department of Obstetrics at the Women’s Hospital at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, a specialist in high-risk pregnancies.
Dr. Menticoglou gave them hope. With care and monitoring, he did not think it was a totally crazy idea for her to get pregnant again, and in 2006 she was delighted to find out she was pregnant. She was admitted at 26 weeks to the Women’s Hospital, Health Sciences Centre where she stayed for four weeks. Her son Meritt was born at 30 weeks gestation. He was a preemie, but he was healthy.
On Christmas Day 2009, Twylla found out she was pregnant again. She was admitted to Women’s Hospital in her third trimester to monitor for a possible rupture. On June 18th they determined there was a problem, there was fetal blood in her blood, The baby had minutes, maybe hours left.
The amazing staff at Women’s Hospital immediately sprang to action.
First, they gave the baby an intrauterine blood transfusion. Intrauterine blood transfusion is a process where blood is given to the baby while she is inside the womb in order to give her a better chance of survival.
That was Plan A. Plan B was a C-section that same night. Staff from the Fetal Assessment Unit stayed overtime and were there through the whole process, taking pictures of the birth and supporting her. Her daughter Maelle was born at 29 weeks gestation and was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Twylla Penner did not have the words to express her gratitude to Women’s Hospital. In her own words. “They (the staff at HSC Women’s Hospital) truly gave me the gift of life………. I know I have living children because of them.”
Because you give, caring and committed staff have the tools and support they need………. because you give, their world class investigators and surgeons have the resources they need and because you give, people like, Twyla Penner, have hope in the face of adversity.
You can make your donation by phone at (204) 787 2022 or online at hscfoundation.mb.ca
