Rare pregnancy complication is almost fatal for Oklahoma mother and infant

“For this patient, in this situation, it absolutely is that she was in the right place at the right time,” said Dr. Chris Schultz, an obstetrician and gynecologist at The Children's Hospital. “The pieces came together, and everyone worked as a team and took care of her and her baby.”

Roseanna McCall was sitting in a hospital bed at The Children's Hospital on June 28 when she thought her water broke.

Instead, McCall experienced a placental abruption, a premature separation of the placenta, which nourishes the fetus, from its attachment to the uterus wall before the baby is delivered, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Placental abruption, which includes any amount of separation of the placenta before delivery, occurs about once in every 150 deliveries, according to the NIH. But the severe form of abruption that McCall experienced occurs only in 1 out of 800 to 1,600 deliveries.

Roseanna McCall's due date was Sept. 27. The abruption wasn't something anyone had suspected might occur.

Chance McCall had just left the room and closed the bathroom door when he heard his wife gasp and heard someone say the word “blood.”

McCall, a staff sergeant in the Air Force, has seen his fair share of blood in combat, but he wasn't prepared for what he saw when he came back into the room.

“Literally, in 15 seconds, there was blood from her waist to the foot of the bed,” he said. “I was almost in shell shock myself.”

Difficult pregnancy

Roseanna McCall's pregnancy had its up and downs from the beginning.

In January, she started having abdominal pains and went to the emergency room. After several tests, medical staff told her she either had a thyroid issue or was hypoglycemic.

But in February when she returned to the doctor, she found out her white blood cell count was off — and that she was 14 weeks pregnant.

From there, things went well for McCall and her baby — until late June. She started feeling dizzy on June 21 and learned from the doctor she had high blood pressure.