In Memory of Amanda O'Connor
I am making this page in memory of our daughter Amanda O'Connor. She was our first daughter and she became an angel on March 29,1988. She was born at 11:04p.m. She weighed 4 pounds and 3 1/4 ounces and she was 19 1/2 inches long.
Amanda's Story:
I found out that I was pregnant with Amanda in November of 1987. My boyfriend at the time(now my husband) was living in Chicago and I was living in Texas. He would come down over the summers and work, and then at the end of the summer he would go back to Chicago.
Anyway, when I found out I was pregnant I was already 3 1/2 months pregnant. I called him and he proposed immediately(I was very lucky in that regards) then the hard part telling my mom and dad!!
Well we got married on February 13, 1988. I moved to Chicago so he could finish college. One day I went to the bank and was talking to his aunt(she worked there) and I fainted. They took my to the hospital ran all kinds of tests, and they said it was just because I hadn't had breakfast and everything else was ok.
Well my mom, dad, and sister came up to visit me the last of March, then my dad and sister went home but my mom decided to stay up there for another week. On Tuesday March 29, 1988, I had a doctors appointment, and my mom was going to go but she decided she would stay at the house and do some laundry for me and pick up the rest of the house, because by this time I was 8 months pregnant, and the washer/dryer was in the basement and our bedroom was on the 2nd floor so I had a lot of stairs and she didn't want me going up and down so much!!! I left and started feeling sick to my stomach on my way, so I turned around to go home and call the doctor to reschedule--
At some point, I am not sure when I totally passed out while driving and I hit another car and then a light pole all going with my foot on the accelarator-- they think I hit at about 40 mph.
I wasn't showing very much with this pregnancy-- and in fact when the ambulance got there they didn't even know that I was pregnant. They had attached heart monitors to me and I asked them how is my baby-- they did not know what I was talking about. I told them I was pregnant and they immediately moved the monitors and there it was her heart beat!!! IT WAS A SOUND I WILL NEVER FORGET.
When I got to the hospital the doctors in the emergency room, said I must be going into shock because I couldn't be as far along as I was because I didn't look it. They kept coming in and I kept hearing her heart beat, they did tests to see what was wrong etc, then they did another test to hear her heart beat, and it wasn't there. This was probably 5-6 hours later. They took me up to a labor and delivery room and did a sonogram-- NOTHING-- I knew at that point she was gone.
The doctor immediately ordered the medicine to induce labor-- I begged him to please don't make me have to do it this way. He said this was the only way he could do it, and so I started having contractions. With every contraction, I would stop breathing, they called a specialist in because they did another sonogram and they saw some liquid over by my kidneys. They were not sure what was happening. The specialist could not believe that they started to induce labor when they didn't know what was wrong. He immediately stopped my labor and within 30 minutes, I was in the delivery room doing an emergency c-section.
There were 2 doctors who were in the operating room and the one was very nice, the other I believe came straight from HELL. The nurses were trying to move me from the stretcher to the operating table and I couldn't move because my shoulders hurt so bad, they asked for his help and he said "she can do it herself" I said I am sorry but I can't and then he shoved me onto the table and said "see I told you you could" The nurses just looked down at me and said I am so very sorry.
When I woke up in the recovery room, I saw they were giving me blood, I found out that I had to receive several pints of blood. It was determined that my uterus ruptured during the wreck and Amanda had gone through a lot of trauma.
My dad, sister and brother-in-law flew back up to Chicago when they found out. My mom did bring Amanda in to me in the recovery room, I wasn't able to hold her because I was very badly injured, but I did get to hold her hand and look at her all over.
I stayed in the hospital until Sunday and the rest of the stay was a very bad one. I had a neurologist tell me I had epilepsy, but she ran no tests to determine that, and then the very mean doctor told me "Thanks to me you can have more kids".
The hospital did take pictures of Amanda, they gave me the measuring tape they measured her on, a clipping of her hair, and the blanket and hat she had on. So for that I am truly thankful.
It has been over 10 years and I still think about the what ifs!! The only way I have been able to get through this was the comfort of knowing that God knows what He is doing, and of course by the love of my husband and the rest of my family.
Amanda's Angel Friends
Some Poems That Have Helped Me Cope
Gifts and Awards Amanda's Page Has Received
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Email: oconnorddsc@yahoo.com
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