Katie Spinks’ first three pregnancies were uneventful. She gave birth naturally to two beautiful healthy girls and a boy and described their births as “magical.”
So when she, Virginia’s 35-year-old mother, underwent an induced labor at 39 weeks, she assumed it would be like the previous three.
But she suffered a rare complication likely caused by drugs used to stimulate contractions, causing her uterus to tear and causing catastrophic internal bleeding.
While she was fighting for her own life, her unborn baby was deprived of oxygen and blood flow for almost 30 minutes, causing irreversible brain damage.
As a result, Jolene, now five years old, lives with a variety of debilitating conditions including epilepsy, hearing loss, cerebral palsy and dependence on tube feeding.
Katie Spinks’ daughter suffered severe brain damage after running out of oxygen during childbirth complications.
Spinks says Jolene won’t live past the age of 13 and needs 24-hour care for the rest of her life.
“Accepting an induction was the biggest regret of my life,” Spinks told DailyMail.com, fighting back tears.
‘I hold onto the most immense guilt for that. If I had never agreed, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’
Due to a lack of blood and oxygen to her developing brain, little Jolene suffered an irreversible injury known as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).
It affects approximately one in every 1,000 live births in the US and just five minutes is enough to cause permanent damage.
Women who have had a cesarean section are at risk because the scar can rupture due to strong contractions.
But Spinks’ births were completely natural, which makes her case especially rare: It occurs in less than 0.5 percent of induced pregnancies.
Lisa Jackson, clinical assistant professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Mount Sinai in New York, told DailyMail.com that cases like Ms. Spinks’ are tragic but extremely rare.
“In a study published by the National Institute of Health, the risk of uterine rupture was 3.3 per 100,000 births,” he said.
“By comparison, in some studies the risk of being hit by a car as a pedestrian is 1 in 4,200.”
But Mrs. Spinks takes no solace in those statistics. ‘The most important thing I tell women; “Uncommon statistics comfort us, until we become one,” he told DailyMail.com.
The Virginia woman, 35, told DailyMail.com that she was in “good health” while pregnant with her daughter Jolene and had “done nothing wrong, nothing.”
Looking to the future Mrs Spinks, pictured with her four children, says her main goal is to focus on the present “because the future is not guaranteed”.
Ms Spinks finds the entire experience surrounding her fourth birth “traumatic” as the rupture of her uterus causes her a huge amount of pain.
Unable to expel her baby, doctors attempted numerous times to deliver Jolene using a vacuum extractor.
They tried “frantically” three times and after the third attempt, Spinks said he “blacked out and never woke up.”
By the time the mom-to-be was in the operating room for an emergency C-section, almost two hours had passed.
Continuing the heartbreaking story, he says: ‘I needed a three-hour surgery to save my life and my daughter needed multiple rounds of CPR and resuscitative interventions to bring her back to health.
‘We were being saved side by side. Jolene spent a considerable amount of time without oxygen.
After being born, Jolene spent 68 days in the NICU, where she nearly lost her life several times. Eventually, his condition was stable enough for him to return home.
Unable to expel her baby, doctors attempted numerous times to deliver Jolene using a vacuum extractor.
In a bid to raise awareness about HIE, Ms Spinks regularly shares content on social media.
Eager to raise awareness about HIE, Ms Spinks regularly shares content with social networks.
In addition to talking about Jolene’s condition, she talked about two miscarriages she’s had since Jolene’s birth, which led her to undergo a hysterectomy.
She said her uterus was badly damaged by Jolene’s birth, “upside down and completely incompatible with life.”
Her surgeon told her that the doctor who gave birth “should have removed it, he said it was a giant scar with little to no recognition as a uterus.”
Despite her disabilities, the full-time mom says Jolene is “the happiest, most joyful, sassy, beautiful, strong, resilient little girl.”
Looking ahead, Spinks says his main goal is to focus on the present “because the future is not guaranteed.”
And he concludes: ‘We know that he doesn’t have much time left with us. All the damage to your brain is harming your body over time.
‘But she refuses to allow herself to be just a little girl with a brain injury. She fights and fights hard. “I am very proud of her and very proud to be her mother.”