Eclampsia Triggers Race to Save 4 Lives

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) -- A quiet Saturday night at home turned into a medical emergency for a Macomb County couple and a frantic race to save not one, but four lives. A fast thinking husband and talented doctors all made the difference in this human drama.

Bill and Janet's Pikarski's journey into parenthood started with a jolt. After years of trying and then undergoing fertility treatments, the first-time, 40-year-old parents learned they would be having not one, but three babies.

"It took me a few months to adjust to having triplets," said Janet Pikarski.

Janet's pregnancy was picture perfect.

"I had a really great pregnancy almost up until the end," she explained.

However, at 34 weeks, just days before Janet's scheduled delivery, she went to bed and woke up in pain.

"I went to bed and like an hour later, I woke up with a splitting headache and I don't get headaches," Janet Pilkarski said.

After finding no answers in "What to Expect When You're Expecting", Bill called the doctor and was told to get to a hospital.

"As we're getting [ready] to go in the car, she's like I feel disoriented because I'm so tired," said Bill Pikarski.

Janet is considered high risk, so she was supposed to deliver at Beaumont, but as Bill began the drive from from Macomb Township to Royal Oak, she became silent. Bill realized his wife was foaming at the mouth and having seizures.

"She was actually seizing, looking up into the top of the van, which, at that point, I just freaked out," he explained. "I was saying, 'Answer me. Answer me. Can you hear me?'"

His call to 911 may have been life saving. From a McDonald's parking lot, an ambulance whisked Janet away and the race was on to save four lives. The closest hospital was Mount Clemens Regional, which is now known as McLaren Macomb.

ER doctor Patrick Flaherty knew he needed to move fast.

"It's very dangerous when the patient's seizing. If you don't control the seizures, it can affect the babies. It can affect mom, and it can progress to a coma and perhaps even die from it," he said.

"The two doctors said she's eclamptic and the cure for that is delivery," said Bill Pikarski.

Eclampsia is a life-threatening complication of pregnancy in which high blood pressure triggers seizures or coma. There's only one way to stop it.

"Delivery. There is no treatment, other than stabilizing and stopping the seizures. What needs to happen next is delivery," said Dr. Linda Karadsheh.

"If the seizures themselves weren't stabilized, with continued seizures you worry about brain bleeds and some other neurological deficits."

Janet was rushed into the operating room for an emergency C-section.

"As I was sitting there thinking about it, thinking it through, Dr. Flaherty actually said, 'We'll take care of your wife and kids.' It was the first time I ever heard them called my kids," a choked up Bill Pikarski told us.

Within minutes, sheer terror turned to pure joy as three healthy babies were brought out of the operating room.

"The best moment during the whole experience was hearing all three babies crying at once," Dr. Karadsheh said.

"I'd say five minutes later they came and got me and said, 'You want to come see your kids?'" said Bill Pikarski.

Days later, Bill and Janet were home and now a family of five. Janet's memories began hours after the babies were born.

"I didn't remember like the first twelve hours, and then I asked, 'Can I go see my babies?" said Janet Pikarski.

However, for everyone else, their arrival was unforgettable.

"I think another five, ten minutes, it would've been even more dire circumstances for her," Dr. Flaherty said.

"I think it's nothing short of a miracle that everything went over as smoothly as it did," Dr. Karadsheh told us.

Eclampsia is usually preceded by preeclampsia, which is marked by high blood pressure. Doctors really don't know the cause of either, but it is seen most often in first time pregnancies, teen pregnancies or women over 40.