SARAH BIRTH MEMORIES
This
is actually taken from my journal May 31, 1987.
I was at a military training camp, and had some down-time to ponder and
write:
Sarah came into this world suddenly and
unexpectedly on April 24th, at 8:44 a.m. Jeanne’s projected due date was June 12th,
but for the 4-6 weeks preceding she had been swelling at the ankles and had a
little difficulty with breathing. She
had not seen her regular OB-GYN doctor, Jeannette Akhter, for several weeks,
thinking that Dr. Akhter would be out of the country at the time Jeanne was
due. Instead she had seen a variety of
doctors and assistants, all of whom told her to rest, elevate her feet, etc.,
but were not particularly concerned.
On Monday, April 20, Jeanne called Dr.
Akhter to express her discomfort and see if she would prescribe a diuretic to
reduce the body fluids. Dr. Akhter took
one look at Jeanne’s blood pressure tests and said she wanted to see her that
afternoon. She was not pleased with what
she saw. Jeanne’s blood pressure was
dangerously high. She sent her home for
two days of 24-hour bed rest.
That night Jeanne felt her heart pounding
and was having difficulty breathing.
Frightened, she called the Emergency Room at the hospital. The doctor on duty told her to sleep sitting
up, and call back if that didn’t help.
She managed to make it through the night, but called Dr. Akhter the next
morning. Dr. Akhter told her to come to
the hospital right away, and to plan on staying.
At the hospital, the prognosis was not
good. Jeanne would have to stay in bed
hooked up to a monitor until her blood pressure went down and stabilized. Even if that happened, she might have to
spend a couple of weeks in the hospital and probably the rest of her pregnancy
in bed at home. If the blood pressure
did not go down significantly there would be the threat of a grand mal seizure,
which posed a strong possibility of death to the baby, and a somewhat lesser
threat to the mother. If Jeanne’s
condition persisted, they would have to take the baby early.
The next two days saw some reduction and
stabilization of Jeanne’s blood pressure, but not enough. On Thursday afternoon, Dr. Akhter decided to
induce labor, but still wanted to try for a vaginal delivery. She put Jeanne on a topical gel which softens
the cervix, and on a drip I.V. which
contained a substance which would bring the blood pressure further under
control. Thursday evening Larry Lowe,
Gary Kearl and I gave Jeanne a blessing, and all felt at peace.
Friday morning, Jeanne called at about
7:40 a.m. to tell me everything was ok, that by the time I had dropped off the
kids at the Lowes' and done the usual morning things, it would be time to come
to the hospital for the big event...no rush.
So I got the kids off on the bus to
school, cleaned up the breakfast mess, talked briefly on the phone to Elaine
Fairbanks, who had called, then dropped the kids over at the Lowes' and talked
to Jenny for a few minutes. I went from
there to the hospital, arriving at about 8:55.
I went up to Jeanne’s floor and was met there by Dr. Akhter, who said
“Congratulations…you have a daughter!” I must have looked shocked, because Dr.
Akhter went on without pausing “Jeanne started having contractions and the
baby’s heartbeat was flattening out. We
decided to get her consent to do an emergency C-section.”
Well. In spite of all the excitement, it ended happily enough. Sarah was 4 lbs. 8 oz. at birth. She was 17.25 inches long, and in spite of her early arrival, was amazingly healthy. She was never in an incubator, was under an air “hood”(plastic bubble) for only three hours, and was released in the minimum (for premature babies) 10 days. She has been healthy ever since, and now weighs about 6 lbs. Interestingly, the Doctor said that Jeanne’s high blood pressure had put enough stress on Sarah that her lungs were sufficiently developed for her early arrival. Also, while we know that medical science has made great advances in the treatment of premature infants and we appreciate all that was done by the doctors, nurses, technicians, and others, I strongly feel that the circumstances that made it possible for Sarah to be born normal and healthy were aided by the multiple prayers and the two blessings that combined the faith and love of family and friends in Sarah’s and our behalves. We will be eternally grateful for those prayers and the other acts of service and kindness which made our challenge easier.
Postscript: Because of the nature of the C-section that
was done (a very small lateral incision known as a “bikini cut”, rather than
the usual vertical incision) Jeanne has returned rather dramatically to good
health and has resumed all of her normal activities. We are extremely grateful for every blessing
wrought during this and subsequent events.
Post-post script: The usual cost for intensive care is $3000.00
per day. Since Sarah did not need an
incubator, her initial charge was $1200.00, and after a few days, that was
reduced to $400.00. Jeanne, because of
the nature of her Cesarean, was able to return home 4 days after delivery,
about a week after being admitted. The
costs are still substantial, but we have been aided by good insurance.
