Mallory Pisarek’s first two pregnancies were “normal,” but her third was anything but.
At 22 weeks, her obstetrician discovered the baby had an irregular heartbeat, called SVT, short for supraventricular tachycardia.
“His heart rate was like three to four times faster than what it should have been,” Pisarek, 37, said of her son, Oaklee, who was born Nov. 19, 2020.
The day after the SVT was diagnosed, a pediatric cardiologist sent Pisarek to Oishei Children’s Hospital, and for eight days medical staff there tried to regulate Oaklee’s heartbeat.
“We were fully prepared to deliver if need be if they couldn’t get (his heartbeat) down. I was on heart medications, but essentially it was to slow down his heart rate,” said Pisarek, a teacher in the Sweet Home Central School District.
At Oishei, Pisarek found out she had placenta accreta, a condition that may increase with each Caesarean section, Pisarek said. Oaklee would be her third after sister, Skylar, 5, and brother, Easton, 10.
“It’s when your placenta grows into your organs,” she said. “So my placenta was growing into my bladder and my kidneys so that put me at a high risk because there is a severe risk for bleeding during delivery.”
Her care was transferred from her normal obstetrician to Oishei’s Maternal Fetal Medicine clinic, she said.
Then at 27 weeks pregnant, it was discovered Oaklee would be born with a cleft lip.
Two days later, Oishei’s Craniofacial Clinic was talking with Pisarek and her husband, Josh, also 37, about the next steps. The cleft would affect the baby’s ability to eat once he was born.
The medical team at Oishei decided to do the C-section delivery at 34 weeks of her pregnancy. More complications arose.
“I vividly remember my husband and my mom asking how long could they expect her surgery to last. They said it should last about two hours,” said Pisarek, who had to be anesthetized because of the placenta accreta condition.
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