The Voss Family: January 2009

Susanna’s story begins in September of 2003 when we first found out I was pregnant. I started my prenatal care locally in Madison. I had monthly appointments to check the protein level, size and heartbeat. Everything was good until Dec 12th of 2003. That afternoon I started feeling bad. My abdomen was not quite right and I was dizzy. I went over to the clinic. They were not sure what to do so they said they needed a urine sample to start. When I went to the restroom I was spotting. Then they wanted an ultrasound but the hospital tech lady was gone for the day. By this point I was really bleeding. The clinic sent me to the hospital emergency room to be taken to Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls. By this time I had thrown up and was in a lot more pain. At the hospital they did an ultrasound by could not make much of it since they saw a lot of blood. I was then sent from emergency to labor and delivery. They called in a perinatologist from Avera since Sioux Valley did not have one at the time. He wanted to wait and see what happened over the next few hours. During that time my parents got to the hospital along with my in-laws. I was in a lot of pain and the hospital bed rail was my best friend. Later in the night they took me to surgery. They were going to scope my abdomen to see what they could see. I had to sign a form that said anything from an appendix removal to a hysterectomy. I was told that the baby would not survive and to expect not to be pregnant when I woke up. During surgery the scope did not work, they could not see anything. They had to open me up. They went through everything in my abdomen to see what was causing the bleeding. The only scenario that they came up with is that the blood went up my fallopian tubes and out my ovaries. They removed 10 ounces of blood from my abdomen and also took my appendix while they were in there. I was diagnosed as having a placenta abruptio; this is where the placenta comes apart from the uterus and caused all the bleeding. When I woke up from surgery I was told that the Susanna had survived and did wonderful. I then spent a week on the high risk OB floor. I was allowed to go home on strict bed rest with ultrasound each week. I spent the rest of December and the start of January on bed rest. It was difficult just to sit at home and do nothing. We had a lot of help from neighbors and others at our church.
Then on January 10th, 2004 I was having gas pains during the day. I did not think much of them until I went to bed that night and started timing them. I got out my “What to Expect when You’re Expecting” book since I had not gotten to that part of the book yet. It said contractions could feel like gas. Then I called the clinic that the perinatologist was in and told them what was happening. They told me to come to the hospital. Larry and I left for Sioux Falls in fog so thick that we could only see a few feet in front of us. My contractions were still 5 minutes apart. I was taken to the high risk OB floor and given steroids to help develop the baby’s lungs and given meds to help stop the contractions. Then I was taken for an ultrasound and it was determined that the sac was bulging out though the cervix. I was then positioned where my head was lower than my feet to try to keep the sac in. I had a hard time sleeping that night. In the morning I met my new perinatologist that had just started at Sioux Valley, Dr. Boyle. Also that day I got my second round of steroids for the baby’s lungs. The contractions were still 5 minutes apart and when I was sleeping they were 20 minutes apart. By Wednesday morning the contractions had stopped and I was off all meds. That lasted for two hours and they started again. I had also been dilating throughout this whole process. The nurses thought I was going to give birth that night but I did not. When I woke up Thursday morning I had an oxygen mask on my face. They were starting to worry about me now more than the baby. I was dilated to a 9-10 by that time. About 1pm I was taken to the delivery room. My sac had not broken but was still bulging out. Dr. Boyle broke it, I pushed 1 ½ pushes and she was out. The neonatologist team took her to get her stabilized. We did get to see her for a second. I could not see much since I was not allowed to wear my contact or my glasses. I then delivered the placenta and was back in my room within 45 minutes from the time I left. Susanna Michelle was born at 1:19pm on Thursday, January 15th, 2004. She weighted 1 lb 8 oz and 12.5 inches long. We were able to go see her after they got her stabilized in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She was so small. Her face and head were all black and blue from the deliver since she came out face first. This did go away after a few days. More to come later.

Here is a little video of her first 5 years.