JEN'S STORY

When her third baby was born on October 4, 2005, Jen Blackburn didn’t think anything was amiss.  She had had normal deliveries with her first two and little Benjamin arrived safely and on time at McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center.  But Jen comments that she started feeling incredibly cold and shaky soon after delivery so hospital staff kept piling on blankets to attempt to warm her up.  It didn’t take long, however, for her to realize that something was very wrong and the nurses found that she was hemorrhaging heavily.

Jen was immediately rushed into surgery to repair the damage, and her doctor, Elizabeth McCorkle, was able to stop the bleeding.  At that time she received at least two units of red blood cells to replace the blood she had lost.  Dr. McCorkle wasn’t sure why Jen had a hemorrhage, but thought the reason could be genetic since Jen’s sister had also suffered a hemorrhage after giving birth to her first child.

Thanks to the infusion of the red blood cells, Jen was able to go home after 4 days in the hospital, and regained full strength within 2 weeks.