My name is Renee Suzuki. I’m the wife of MLB player Kurt Suzuki and mother to three spectacular blessings, Malia, Kai and Eli. I’m writing my story in the hope of bringing awareness to a fact that affects all mothers and that is childbirth and the risks involved. I’m alive and able to tell my story because of God’s grace, not because of the medical care I received. I feel it’s my responsibility to inform mothers of the warning signs of internal bleeding because my warning signs were completely missed, which could have resulted in a tragic ending.
My story begins when we arrived in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 1, 2016. I was 28 weeks pregnant and ready to start a new baseball season. We are the typical baseball family. Home is where daddy is and MN became home. My third trimester was wonderful. I enjoyed all of my pregnancies and this was no exception, especially seeing my other two children’s faces when the baby would kick. Priceless.
I had been very diligent with my prenatal care and eagerly anticipated meeting the doctor who would be delivering our child, Dr. Bridgette Ritter Miest at Park Nicollet in Maple Grove, MN. From our 1st appointment, I did not have a good feeling about Dr. Ritter Miest, but I buried those feeling and focused on my two other children and husband. Lesson learned…Listen to your instincts!
The weeks were flying by and we were ready to meet baby Elijah. My planned caesarean was scheduled for Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 9:30am.
The day came. My husband and I arrived at Maple Grove Hospital to meet our newest son. The rest of the family was at our home in Chanhassen awaiting daddy’s call to come visit their new brother. After the nurse had to page Dr. Ritter Miest, she finally showed up and was eager to delivery our baby boy.
My story begins when we arrived in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 1, 2016. I was 28 weeks pregnant and ready to start a new baseball season. We are the typical baseball family. Home is where daddy is and MN became home. My third trimester was wonderful. I enjoyed all of my pregnancies and this was no exception, especially seeing my other two children’s faces when the baby would kick. Priceless.
I had been very diligent with my prenatal care and eagerly anticipated meeting the doctor who would be delivering our child, Dr. Bridgette Ritter Miest at Park Nicollet in Maple Grove, MN. From our 1st appointment, I did not have a good feeling about Dr. Ritter Miest, but I buried those feeling and focused on my two other children and husband. Lesson learned…Listen to your instincts!
The weeks were flying by and we were ready to meet baby Elijah. My planned caesarean was scheduled for Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at 9:30am.
The day came. My husband and I arrived at Maple Grove Hospital to meet our newest son. The rest of the family was at our home in Chanhassen awaiting daddy’s call to come visit their new brother. After the nurse had to page Dr. Ritter Miest, she finally showed up and was eager to delivery our baby boy.
The surgery went perfectly. My uterus looked great, remarked Dr. Ritter Meist, who was accompanied by Dr. Miller. Baby Elijah was here, weighing in at 7.14ozs, 20.6 inches tall. We were overjoyed with love.
But soon after the caesarean our horrific nightmare began. Still in the operating room, my core temperature had dropped, so they placed the Bair Hugger on my body, which is a body blanket that distributes forced, warm air helping raise core temperature. They assured us that this is normal and not to worry. During my two previous caesarean deliveries my core temperature did not drop so dangerously low. But of course, if the medical staff were not concerned, neither were we.
In the postpartum room, my core temp was still very low and I had an accelerated heart rate of 99bpm. Both are warning signs of internal hemorrhaging, but the nurses assumed I was having a reaction to the spinal block, so the anesthesiologist was called in to check on me.
Even with the Bair Hugger on, my core temperature would not rise and for nearly 6 hours my resting heart rate was 99bpm. As shocking as this sounds, Dr. Ritter Miest, who was the primary OBGYN during surgery, was not informed of these facts! She never came to check on me during my stay nor was she kept informed of the issues I was experiencing. I also was not excreting urine for nearly 24 hours and the little bit that I did had blood in it. My children and family members were not allowed to visit until my core temperature rose.
Now we know, I was bleeding internally during these six hours. I had exhibited all the warning signs and it was missed. Completely missed!
After 7 hours post surgery, my children were finally able to come meet their brother because my core temperature had risen. I remember very little during that visit, but I do remember thinking, I was extremely dizzy. I voiced my concern to the nursing staff, but also blamed it on the fact that I had just delivered a baby.
The room was spinning and my stomach was very distended and hard. This was not how my other two caesareans felt post surgery. My stomach still looked 40 weeks pregnant.
On Thursday, July 14th, day 2 after surgery Dr. Nelson discharged me. Blood was starting to come to the top layer of my skin and I had a large amount of bruising on top of my pelvic bone. We voiced our concern about my “dizziness” and bruising, but he reassured us that this is also normal and I was free to go home. I started documenting my stomach with pictures, because I knew this was far from normal. But, if the doctors said I was OK, I was going to “push through” this lethargic feeling and get back to my other two children. Again, listen to your instincts, they are smarter then any doctor you will ever encounter.
Friday, July 15th, day 3 after surgery, I woke up with more blood coming to the surface of the top layer of skin. I now knew something was dangerously wrong with my body.
I called Park Nicolette’s OBGYN office and they fit me in. I had never been so scared in my life. Hour by hour, you could see the blood spreading under the top layer of my skin. When both Dr. Ritter Miest and Dr. Miller saw my stomach, they were both shocked and had no explanation. I remember asking Dr. Ritter-Miest, “Am I going to die?” All I could think about was leaving my 3 children without a mother.
Dr. Ritter Miest was too busy and had to run off to another patient, so I sat in the examine room with a fever, two nurses and Dr. Miller. “Maybe you have a clotting problem. Let’s run blood work,” they suggested. Well, results showed I didn’t have a clotting problem, but it did show that I had lost a dangerously large amount of blood. I had become extremely anemic because of the blood loss.
Again, shocking as this sounds, they sent me home as I was bundled up with blankets, shivering because my body was in shock. Dr. Ritter Miest had outlined the area of blood with a sharpie marker and said if the blood travels past this line, go to the ER, which it did and my fever never subsided.
But soon after the caesarean our horrific nightmare began. Still in the operating room, my core temperature had dropped, so they placed the Bair Hugger on my body, which is a body blanket that distributes forced, warm air helping raise core temperature. They assured us that this is normal and not to worry. During my two previous caesarean deliveries my core temperature did not drop so dangerously low. But of course, if the medical staff were not concerned, neither were we.
In the postpartum room, my core temp was still very low and I had an accelerated heart rate of 99bpm. Both are warning signs of internal hemorrhaging, but the nurses assumed I was having a reaction to the spinal block, so the anesthesiologist was called in to check on me.
Even with the Bair Hugger on, my core temperature would not rise and for nearly 6 hours my resting heart rate was 99bpm. As shocking as this sounds, Dr. Ritter Miest, who was the primary OBGYN during surgery, was not informed of these facts! She never came to check on me during my stay nor was she kept informed of the issues I was experiencing. I also was not excreting urine for nearly 24 hours and the little bit that I did had blood in it. My children and family members were not allowed to visit until my core temperature rose.
Now we know, I was bleeding internally during these six hours. I had exhibited all the warning signs and it was missed. Completely missed!
After 7 hours post surgery, my children were finally able to come meet their brother because my core temperature had risen. I remember very little during that visit, but I do remember thinking, I was extremely dizzy. I voiced my concern to the nursing staff, but also blamed it on the fact that I had just delivered a baby.
The room was spinning and my stomach was very distended and hard. This was not how my other two caesareans felt post surgery. My stomach still looked 40 weeks pregnant.
On Thursday, July 14th, day 2 after surgery Dr. Nelson discharged me. Blood was starting to come to the top layer of my skin and I had a large amount of bruising on top of my pelvic bone. We voiced our concern about my “dizziness” and bruising, but he reassured us that this is also normal and I was free to go home. I started documenting my stomach with pictures, because I knew this was far from normal. But, if the doctors said I was OK, I was going to “push through” this lethargic feeling and get back to my other two children. Again, listen to your instincts, they are smarter then any doctor you will ever encounter.
Friday, July 15th, day 3 after surgery, I woke up with more blood coming to the surface of the top layer of skin. I now knew something was dangerously wrong with my body.
I called Park Nicolette’s OBGYN office and they fit me in. I had never been so scared in my life. Hour by hour, you could see the blood spreading under the top layer of my skin. When both Dr. Ritter Miest and Dr. Miller saw my stomach, they were both shocked and had no explanation. I remember asking Dr. Ritter-Miest, “Am I going to die?” All I could think about was leaving my 3 children without a mother.
Dr. Ritter Miest was too busy and had to run off to another patient, so I sat in the examine room with a fever, two nurses and Dr. Miller. “Maybe you have a clotting problem. Let’s run blood work,” they suggested. Well, results showed I didn’t have a clotting problem, but it did show that I had lost a dangerously large amount of blood. I had become extremely anemic because of the blood loss.
Again, shocking as this sounds, they sent me home as I was bundled up with blankets, shivering because my body was in shock. Dr. Ritter Miest had outlined the area of blood with a sharpie marker and said if the blood travels past this line, go to the ER, which it did and my fever never subsided.
My body was getting weaker and weaker and the blood was traveling from hipbone to hipbone. On Friday evening, 3 days post surgery; my mom drove me to the ER with my newborn baby. They ran more blood work, which showed my hemoglobin was not dropping so I was considered “stable.” Even though my hemoglobin level was within the blood transfusion range, they sent me home AGAIN! Speaking to other doctors after the fact, they advised that just because I was stable at that moment does not mean I would have been stable while I was at home.
I had to sleep sitting up for a long time because I had so much blood in my fascia tissue and the pressure was extremely painful. I was sleeping 18 hours a day because I literally had no strength. I remember thinking how difficult it was to complete a sentence. A week post surgery had gone by and I still didn’t have any answers as to what was happening to my body.
Dr. Ritter Miest had no urgency to perform a scan or do extra monitoring. I spoke to other doctors, who strongly suggested that I receive weekly scans and measure the progress of re-absorption of blood. I needed more attention then Dr. Ritter Miest was willing to provide. A week post surgery had passed and I desperately needed an explanation as to what was happening to my body! The spreading of blood was getting so much worse. Dr. Ritter Miest saw the desperation and finally spoke openly about what she believes happened. She said, after speaking to her colleagues. “In theory, when cauterizing the vein, the vein was shocked, not completely cauterized, which temporarily stopped the bleeding, but shortly after, the vein starting bleeding again.” I had been bleeding internally and it had been completely undetected! Dr. Ritter Miest admitted that she believes I lost at least 1 liter of blood. Other doctors suggest it was at least double that.
I needed a new doctor ASAP and that’s when Dr. Martini’s name (Oakdale OBGYN) was given to me by a member of the MN Twins organization. Dr. Martini was a Godsend! I felt confident with my care and I felt she had my best interest at heart. She ordered weekly CT scans and measured the re-absorption of blood, checked for clotting and was honest and proactive.
I had to sleep sitting up for a long time because I had so much blood in my fascia tissue and the pressure was extremely painful. I was sleeping 18 hours a day because I literally had no strength. I remember thinking how difficult it was to complete a sentence. A week post surgery had gone by and I still didn’t have any answers as to what was happening to my body.
Dr. Ritter Miest had no urgency to perform a scan or do extra monitoring. I spoke to other doctors, who strongly suggested that I receive weekly scans and measure the progress of re-absorption of blood. I needed more attention then Dr. Ritter Miest was willing to provide. A week post surgery had passed and I desperately needed an explanation as to what was happening to my body! The spreading of blood was getting so much worse. Dr. Ritter Miest saw the desperation and finally spoke openly about what she believes happened. She said, after speaking to her colleagues. “In theory, when cauterizing the vein, the vein was shocked, not completely cauterized, which temporarily stopped the bleeding, but shortly after, the vein starting bleeding again.” I had been bleeding internally and it had been completely undetected! Dr. Ritter Miest admitted that she believes I lost at least 1 liter of blood. Other doctors suggest it was at least double that.
I needed a new doctor ASAP and that’s when Dr. Martini’s name (Oakdale OBGYN) was given to me by a member of the MN Twins organization. Dr. Martini was a Godsend! I felt confident with my care and I felt she had my best interest at heart. She ordered weekly CT scans and measured the re-absorption of blood, checked for clotting and was honest and proactive.
It took about 8 months before I could say my energy was 100%. I truly believe I’m alive because of God’s grace. I could have easily bled out, but my body had so much blood in my fascia tissue that the blood pressurized the vein and it clotted itself. My body stopped the bleeding.
Please learn the warning signs of internal bleeding and listen to your instincts and become your own advocate. I have a responsibility to speak up. In the United States, the rate of caesarean births is 32% and internally hemorrhaging occurs much too often. Thank you for listening to my story.
God Bless,
Renee Suzuki
Please learn the warning signs of internal bleeding and listen to your instincts and become your own advocate. I have a responsibility to speak up. In the United States, the rate of caesarean births is 32% and internally hemorrhaging occurs much too often. Thank you for listening to my story.
God Bless,
Renee Suzuki
