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Helaina Jeanne Sohn's Birth

The stats:

Helaina Jeanne Sohn
February 17, 1996 7:52 pm
6 lbs. 11.5 oz.
19.5 inches
Apgars 9/9

The story:

I had been in the hospital since January 23 for preeclampsia. My due date wasn't until February 23, and as long as my blood pressure and lab values were under control with bed rest, I was trying to wait as long as possible before induction to give the baby time to grow. (36 week US sized her at only 4 lbs. 13 oz., slightly small for her age) The 38 week US sized her at 6 lbs. 3 oz. On Thursday, my doctor came to me and said that we had waited as long as we could. My blood pressure was becoming eratic again and I was spilling about a gram of protein in my urine. I was fingertip dilated, 50% effaced and the baby had dropped. Not exactly ideal induction conditions, but it was possible. I was taken to labor and delivery at 2:30 pm. First order of business was an enema since being on hospital bedrest for nearly 3 weeks had left me very constipated. I had never had an enema before, and I can't say it was pleasant but it really wasn't as bad as I had expected and it felt good to be cleaned out after so long. At 4:30 pm, the doctor inserted something called Cervidil. It's a little gel pack with a string that sits on the cervix for 12 hours to try and soften it and begin labor. During this 12 hour period, I was on an IV for fluids, no food, no water, not even a TV or telephone in the room to help make the time go by faster. Just a fetal monitor and my husband to keep my company. My husband, Eric and I played "Geography" for a while. At 5 am, my cervix was checked...fingertip dilated, 50% effaced. No progress whatsoever!! I was devastated, but the doctor assured me that Cervidil rarely works by itself the first time. A little while later, a little Pitocin was started. After 3 hours of Pitocin, I was having frequent BH contractions, but that was about it. I was now about 60% effaced, but still fingertip dilated. :-( At noon, another dose of Cervidil and 12 more hours of complete boredom and iritibility. At midnight Friday, I was now only 1 cm dilated and about 70% effaced. That was as much as I could take and I was hysterical crying (so was Eric). The doctors decided to give me a few hours to rest (and eat something light and drink) before trying again. I went back to my room on the maternity floor.

Well, wouldn't you know it that within 2 hours of returning to my room that I started having real contractions!! Nothing terribly painful, but I could definitely tell that they weren't BH contractions! They were about 8-10 minutes apart. I slept, but in 9 minute shifts. By 2:30 am, I lost my mucous plug. Eric arrived back at the hospital by 8 am in time to help through the contractions that were starting to get stronger and were now 4-7 minutes apart. By 10 am, I was back in labor and delivery and was now 1-2 cm dilated and 100% effaced. The external monitors were changed to internal ones because the baby was moving around too much and the external monitors weren't giving accurate readings. They started Pitocin again and this time it worked a bit too well. Within 2 hours, the contractions were unbearable and were coming much too fast and too hard...as close as 2-3 minutes apart. I was only 2-3 cm dilated, but the doctor said that I could have an epidural and I jumped at the chance. The Pitocin was stopped until the epidural could be started which was around 1 pm. I was unsure as to whether or not I wanted an epidural before, but I can now say that I am completely pleased that I had one. It worked perfectly and I felt none of the contractions after that. Around 2 pm, I felt a warm gush between my legs. At first I thought that the epidural had caused me to lose bladder control, but after 2 minutes of this gush even I knew that I couldn't pee that much and sure enough the nurse confirmed that my water was broken. They never needed to turn the Pitocin on again (thank God). For a while, the only way I knew I was having a contraction other than looking at the monitor was because I felt more water spurting out.

At 3 pm, I was 4 cm dilated. Around 6 pm, I started feeling something funny during contractions. It was like a pressure feeling. The doctor seemed just as surprised as I was to find that I was now 10 cm dilated! The epidural was immediately turned off but it took a few minutes for me to get enough feeling back to start pushing, especially in my left leg. After 45 minutes of pushing, the doctor noticed that the baby's heartrate was surging on every push. From 160 at rest to about 200 on the pushes. The had me stop pushing and breathe oxygen (for the baby) while they tried to figure out what was wrong (I was in severe pain at this point). The doctor couldn't tell exactly what the problem was, but she was certain there was no way that the baby would make it the rest of the way through the birth canal. It took about 10-15 of the longest minutes to get me ready for the c-section. Since I had the epidural line in, I was able to stay awake during the surgery and Eric was with me when our daughter was born at 7:52 pm. It turned out although she was face down, her head was cocked way back and her face was towards the vaginal opening so on each push her neck was being strained backward. If this had not been caught, her neck would have broken before she was born. Apparently it's a rare problem, but it happens. Despite her traumatic birth, Helaina's Apgars were 9 and 9 because of blue hands. Eric got to hold her for a few minutes by my head (I was strapped down) before she was taken to the nursery.

The rest of the surgery was not fun. I started shivering uncontrollably and got very nauseaus. I wretched a few times before the anesthesiologist got it under control. Later in the surgery, I started feeling pain and the drugs were pumped up so much that I was practically unconscious. It was like an out of body experience. Finally the surgery was over and I was taken to recovery where I had to stay for 24 hours on a Magnesium IV because of the preeclampsia. They did bring Helaina to me throughout the day.

I was back in my room by 10 pm on Sunday night. Recovery from the c-section has been going well. I do feel like the size of the truck that hit me is getting smaller by the day. My blood pressure has been a little high here and there, but I've been told that pregnancy induced hypertension could take up to a few weeks to go away and I have to be careful for a while.

Judi Sohn