In their own words: Horseheads mother who required 33 units of blood following labor complications shares her story

Every two seconds someone is in need of blood.

So often we talk about that need – and the ongoing national blood shortage – in terms of our hospital partners and what that it could mean in the event of an emergency. Its significance is another matter entirely, when you’re able to see it in action or hear from those patients and their families who’ve directly benefitted from blood donations thanks to the generosity of volunteer donors.

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with Jason and Kristina Harris about the traumatic events that followed the birth of their daughter Eva in December that would have cost Kristina her life had it not been for multiple volunteer blood donors.

Below is a portion of that interview.

MR: I want to thank you guys for speaking with me this afternoon and for sharing your story with us. First and foremost, how are you all doing? How are you adjusting with your little one?

Kristina Harris: Well, other than adjusting to life with a newborn and getting less sleep and not being able to control our schedules, we're doing really well. We are happy to have these problems, so these are the these are good problems to have. Healing is going well!

MR: Absolutely and we’re glad to hear it. Talk to me about that day back in December and take me through what happened.

KH: Sure, so I'll start. I was out for a lot of the day so Jason can fill in the gaps. The facts just before we get into the experience of it, I went in to be induced for my second child and we have a 3-year-old who's just really terrific. She's bright and joyful and precocious. Really loving. And so we love being parents and were really excited to add to our family. Our three-year-old was thrilled to have her wish of having a little sister come true. She came up with the name Eva when we first told her that she was going to have a sister.

And so we went in to be induced, and things were going fine. I was sleeping around 4:00 o'clock in the morning, and I sat up and I felt really big pain. I felt like three big kicks to my left side and then like blinding pain across my ribs and a lot of difficulty breathing, and I assume that's when the placental abruption happened. Which means that the placenta detached completely in my case, which is really dangerous for me and for the baby because the baby can’t get the oxygen and other things she needs. But I didn't know that. I just felt the pain and I thought this is really bad.

Thirteen years before my parents had me, they lost a full-term baby because of a cord accident. She wanted to be induced. The cord came out and the doctor pushed it back and she felt a big kick, and then that was it. So when I felt three big kicks and pain, I didn't necessarily think that was a problem, but I thought this reminded me of my mom’s situation and I thought this is really scary and bad.

My memories after that point are few and far between. I remember when I was being prepped for the C-section, the emergency C-section, I asked the doctor if my daughter and I were going to be OK and he said he would do his best. And I had this thought that this is it for me, and that was before the real trouble began. So that's when I went out and Jason can pick up the story from there.

JASON HARRIS: So, they took Kristina back for the emergency C-section pretty quickly. I’d gotten word that Eva had been born and they were sewing up Kristina, so I thought we were in the clear at that point. A few minutes later the doctor came out to talk to me. Kristina’s body had used up all of its coagulation factors and basically there is nothing stopping the blood from pouring out of Kristina.

I could see the hallway that went into the emergency room, and I nervously watched as things had gotten worse and worse. The first thing I saw was the cart. I knew that the cart had a lot of blood products, I think it was red and white and then you know, I knew it was serious. I knew that there was a lot of bleeding and I saw a lot of other people coming through with different size coolers. I knew that she was bleeding a lot and I knew that, you know, there’s a finite supply of blood even in the best of circumstances and just thinking that I hope they had enough for her. What we later heard was that they actually had to bring in some blood products from the hospital in Elmira.

Kristina was later transported by helicopter from Corning Guthrie Hospital to Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre. Nearly 8 hours after suffering a placental abruption, doctors completed surgery and relayed to Jason that Kristina was doing well.

JH: It was a little tough to see Kristina in that kind of situation. She did a really great job recovering and you know, all the doctors that I talked with were very professional, very considerate but very honest. They were very clear that Kristina’s condition was extremely critical. But something changed and it started to work, and they did a great job, both surgical teams and we’re happy to have her here today.

MR: Absolutely. Kristina, what was going through your head when you woke up and started to realize the gravity of the situation?

KH: You know, I don’t remember too much. I wasn’t really surprised when I found out that it was not good. When I heard that they wanted to transfer me by helicopter to a hospital that was only a half hour away, I thought that was, you know, pretty serious. It was very strange to wake up knowing that I had had a baby and not be able to see her.

I didn’t know that Jason was trying to sort of shield me from any negative information about the baby, he just sort of said that she was doing OK. We later found out that she might have some problems. So she was in the NICU at Arnot Hospital and then was transferred to Rochester to another NICU. So I was in Pennsylvania and my baby was two hours north in a different hospital.

I was in a lot of pain, but I couldn’t really embrace the emotions. I’m an emotional person, but I had to shut that down anytime I would start to cry. The pain was unbearable, so I was very relieved to have my husband there. I was relieved to have my Dad there, and I was so grateful. I didn’t really learn until later the magnitude of the blood transfusion and that it took 33 people to donate for me to live. It felt and still feels surreal. I know that that happened, but I was out for a lot of it. I remember a couple of times being scared for my life and for my babies and now when I’m holding my baby and feeding her and doing all the things and dancing with my three-year-old and playing with her – I just feel overwhelming gratitude. 

That I’m here and that my daughters have a mother, and I’m so grateful that my husband has his wife. And hopefully, you know, we have a long future in front of us.

Kristina, Jason and their daughters are all doing well and settling into life as a family of four, with baby Eva growing two inches in her first month. The events of that day and the impact of blood donation on patients in need, as well as their loved ones is not lost on either Kristina or Jason. Both are planning to become blood donors themselves and, in the meantime, are encouraging others to make an appointment.

KH: You know, I feel really bad for my husband and for our families that they went through most of that day, thinking that they were going to lose me. For my husband to sign the birth certificate not knowing what was going to happen to either one of us, he had to do that alone. And you know, and my dad, having lost a baby himself, he almost lost my mother after that. For him to see me that way. I know he told my mother that when he saw me before my third surgery, he thought that was going to be the last time he would see me alive.

One thing that really strikes me about blood donation is that you think about saving one person or helping one person to be healthier, but really, I would have been gone. I'm very glad that I'm here. I would have been gone and everybody else would have been left with a hole and grief. I don’t know what life would have been like for my husband and my daughters. If anyone could raise two daughters, it would be my husband, but I’m glad he didn’t have to figure that out and all the difficulties that would come with that.

A full length version of our taped interview can be found here. 

You can make an appointment to donate and help support patients in need like Kristina by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS or downloading the free Red Cross Blood Donor app.

Meg Rossman, Regional Communications Manager, American Red Cross of Western New York