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Almost 13 years ago I went into labor at 24 weeks gestation and was given terbutaline to try to stop the contractions. It did not work, and I was put on mag sulfate.

Hours after the mag was started, alone in my hospital room in the middle of the night, I suddenly felt as if I were drowning. I was drowning, from inside, as I had developed pulmonary edema and respiratory distress syndrome.

Oxygen and diuretics did not work; by morning I was on a ventilator in intensive care, where I remained for three days as my lungs dried out enough for me to breathe on my own.

And my baby? The mag sulfate did stop my contractions, and my daughter was born 10 days later at 26 weeks gestation. She is now almost 13, plays on a soccer team and Irish step dances, and is in honors classes in middle school.

Leslie Stout-Tabackman

McLean