Vegan Birth Stories

Please read our collection of birth stories. If you'd like to submit your own, please submit your story here. Vegan or vegetarian birth stories are welcome.

Ben and Sarah

I began my pregnancy, in September 2003,weighing 280lbs, obviously obese though vegan for over a year and vegetarian for over 5 years. I had questioned my ob/gyn previously regarding his views on a vegan pregnancy and even though he is a "by the book" type of doctor, he said he saw no problem with me having a vegan pregnancy. This was very reassuring since I liked him and didn't want to switch doctors or hospitals.

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I had always exercised and walked so I continued my walking routine throughout the first few weeks of the pregnancy. After completing a lunchtime walk one day during my 6th week, I returned to work and immediately felt a gush a blood while walking down the hallway. I immediately started crying hysterically but called the doctor's office to be told that he was leaving for the day. I explained what happened and the nurse ran to the parking lot to get him. He told me to get to the office right away. I then called my husband, who was a limo driver and was with a client, and told him. He said he would meet me at the doctor's office as soon as possible. I shakily drove myself the 15 miles, sobbing hysterically along the way. A cervical ultrasound was done and the doctor said the baby's heartbeat was fine and my cervix was still closed. He put me on modified bedrest for the weekend (this occurred on a Thursday) and told me to return to his office that following Monday. All weekend long, my husband and I were nervous wrecks. I sat on that sofa and wouldn't move for anything. We returned to the office on Monday. The doctor did another cervical ultrasound and gave us the good news that the baby was fine, heartbeat strong and my cervix still closed. He then says "Oops, the second baby's heartbeat is fine as well." My husband and I just looked at each other in shock. We both had huge grins on our faces and I was crying, with happiness this time. I went from thinking I was losing one baby to finding out I was carrying 2 healthy babies.

My main concern now was carrying twins while being so overweight. My doctor did not make an issue out of it which helped, he just suggested I keep my weight gain to a moderate level. The suggested weight gain for a mother with twins is a minimum of 50 pounds. I met with a nutritionist at the hospital who was vegetarian-friendly and we discussed the ideal way for me to eat healthy, get enough protein (I needed 90 grams a day) while not putting too much weight on. I always ate healthy (just way too much) so it wasn't difficult for me to boost my intake of nuts, legumes and tofu plus eat loads of fresh vegetables and fruits. I gained a total of 20 pounds during my pregnancy.

During the first and second trimesters, my doctor would tell me that he didn't anticipate me making it very far along in the pregnancy without ending up on bedrest. This was due to me being obese as well as carrying twins. Every week, I'd go for my appointment and he'd just shake his head while noting how well I was doing. I'd just keep telling him that it was the vegan diet. Early on in my second trimester, he predicted that I'd be out of work and on bedrest by my 25th week. The 25th week passed and I continued working while the babies kept growing. It was becoming a joke with my husband and I about the doctor's predictions. Finally, as I entered my third trimester, the doctor changed his tune and said he predicted that not only would I deliver approximately 7 pound twins, I would go full-term with them. Most twins are born before 40 weeks and full-term for twins is considered 36 weeks. I kept on working and just relaxing whenever possible. I had passed the glucose test with no problems and my blood pressure had been fine during the entire pregnancy. I refused amniocentisis but felt confident nothing was wrong with the twins. My Level II ultrasound showed no abnormalities and that I was carrying a boy and a girl.

Everything changed on April 15th, 2004. I went to the doctor's for my weekly check and my blood pressure was a bit high, 140/80. I thought it was because I was worried about my cat who had stopped eating and was having dental problems. The doctor told me to take it easy over the weekend and to return to the office the following Monday for another blood pressure check. I did and my pressure was even higher, 140+/90. My doctor told me he was pulling me out of work effective that day and that I didn't have to go on bedrest but to take it easy. I was just entering my 36th week. I went to my office, cleaned off my desk and went home.

Two days later, on April 21st, I woke up at 4am feeling weird. I thought I was just really hungry so I had a bowl of cereal. That didn't help so I took a shower and had another bowl. At this point, I started getting a bad headache and feeling very nauseous. My husband woke up at this point and I told him what was going on. He thought it was labor but I said that it wasn't and that I had not felt the babies move for quite some time. My husband called the ob/gyn's office and left a message for the on-call doctor. The service called us back to tell us that he said to go to the hospital. I thought this was extremely rude since we didn't know if we should go to our local hospital, a 10-minute drive or to the hospital that my ob/gyn is at which is over 45 minutes. My husband wanted to go to the small, local hospital but I insisted we go to the other hospital where I had planned on giving birth. It was rush-hour and we had to take 2 major highways to get to the other hospital. Prior to leaving for the hospital, I was in so much pain and vomiting. My husband ended up driving on the highway shoulders since traffic wasn't moving. We made it to the hospital in approximately 40 minutes.

Once there, we went right up to Labor & Delivery. Fortunately, I was the only woman here at 8:30 in the morning. They took me right away and began running tests. My doctor was there within 30 minutes. We were very fortunate that Wednesdays was his surgery day so he was already at the hospital. I began getting nervous when his partner came into the room plus the high-risk doctor and 2 nurses. I didn't know if this was routine but it seemed very excessive. The doctor told me he was still deciding whether to do an emergency c-section. They began giving me IV fluids just in case and then said they were starting me on magnesium sulfate. I questioned what this was for and I was informed that it would prevent seizures. I was still in pain and was not thinking why I would have to worry about seizures. The doctor informed me approximately 2 hours after we first arrived at the hospital that an emergency c-section would be necessary. We slowly walked over to labor and delivery to begin the preparations.

The anaesthesiologist entered the room and told me that an epidural might not be possible to due my circumstances, he would give it one try and if it didn't work, I'd be put under general anaesthesia. Fortunately, the epidural took with no problems. I was still feeling horrible but once the doctor took the first baby out (Sarah), I had a feeling of joy and also one of relief. My son, Ben, was born 2 minutes later. I was rolled to recovery and saw that my husband looked like worse than I did. I just figured it was the emotions regarding our babies' birth. The doctor came in to see me and tell me that I would not be sent to the postpartum wing, instead I would spend the night in the labor and delivery unit, across from the nurses station for monitoring. I still had no idea that this was abnormal.

I was informed the following day that I had suffered from something called H.E.L.L.P. Syndrome, a form of toxemia that is highly fatal, primarily due to misdiagnosis. My husband had been told while I was undergoing the epidural that it didn't look good for me and that the babies would fine. This explained the haunted look on his face when I saw him. My ob/gyn told me that I was very close to death when I came to the hospital, cells on my liver were ready to burst which would have resulted in bleeding to death and that the hospital I was at was one of the few in the state that could have handled H.E.L.L.P. Syndrome. The only cure is delivery since it is the placenta that was making me so ill and since I had 2 placentas in me, I was extremely ill. It was anticipated that I would have a tough recovery but I was walking within 24 hours after delivery and the only pain medicine I had during the 4 days following the c-section was one Motrin. I was offered laxatives and anti-gas medication but refused. I had no gastro-intestinal problems and informed every nurse that it was because of being vegan. The hospital was unable to provide vegan food though they did keep me supplied with peanut butter and wheat toast for breakfast and a plate spinach, broccoli, carrots and a baked potato for lunch and dinner. This certainly helped any bowel problems I might have experienced. My husband kindly provided takeout meals from the local vegan Chinese restaurant and I left the hospital proudly holding my 5lb 1oz son, Ben and 5lb 4oz daughter, Sarah.

Photos can be seen at www.suepearl.com.

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