McPhedran reflected on the incident and recalled that she had just turned 17 at the time.
Her maternal instincts told her something wasn’t right. Yet given her early age, the doctors told her not to worry about anything.
McPhedran started her eye-opening story with a short opening video with in-lay that read, “When the surgeon opened me up during [an] emergency [C-section] at 31 weeks to find [an] empty uterus.”
[S]he had another scan, where the medical staff couldn’t find her baby’s heartbeat.
Since it was posted, the video had become a viral sensation, garnering millions of views. As of April 3, 2023, it has garnered six million views and over 211k reactions. In response to netizens’ popular demand for more details, McPhedran did a “story time.”
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McPhedran shared two longer clips to explain what she lived. In the first part, she began by saying that although she had not yet reached her due date, she knew she was pregnant. She added:
“We had seen the baby in there so it was there. Just not in the place it should have been.”
The then-17-year-old McPhedran went for her first ultrasound at 14 weeks. Knowing something wasn’t right, she discussed her concerns and worries with the medical staff. But McPhedran noted that nobody listened to her because she was only a teenager.
@mlouloucrawford Replying to @QuiJax2022 part one I will follow up with a part 2 right after #fyp #tiktok #birthstory #storytime #abnormal #pregnancy
Had they listened to her then, McPhedran said she wouldn’t have lived what she did later on. Fast forward to 20 weeks, the woman experienced another health complication—she began bleeding profusely and was in excruciating pain.
But even then, she was taken aback when the doctors deemed it normal and told her not to worry. Eventually, McPhedran went for another ultrasound due to her unusually tiny baby bump and the medical team discovered she had no amniotic fluid. Moreover, the doctors raised concerns regarding placental and baby growth.
When she reached 31 weeks, McPhedran said she was advised complete bed rest, owing to little fetal movement. Then she had another scan, where the medical staff couldn’t find her baby’s heartbeat.
When they located the heartbeat later, it was quite low and the baby appeared to be in distress. McPhedran recalled being taken to the labor ward, where doctors decided to perform an emergency C-section.