This is my story of  vasa previa miracle baby Sean Charles Koth:

     We found out I was pregnant on Fathers’ Day 2006 – what a fun day to find out we’d be having our first child!  After I told my doctor that a few of my cousins had issues with cervical incompetence, she ordered weekly ultrasounds to keep an eye on things.  Photos from my 14 week ultrasound were sent to Dr. Siddiqi at Christ Hospital who suspected vasa previa and asked to see me in person.  My doctor casually mentioned the words “vasa previa” at my next appointment and told me not to worry.  I looked up those words on the internet when I got back to work and was stunned, absolutely stunned, at what I read.  Dr. Siddiqi diagnosed vasa previa after doing a color Doppler ultrasound.  I transferred to Good Samaritan’s Seton Center where I met Dr. Kristin Coppage, the doctor who would eventually deliver our little guy Sean Charles. 

     Poor Dr. Coppage -  she had to deal with me, a hysterical attorney who argued every point with her and questioned every decision.  And poor Ben – my husband remained unfailingly positive at every moment of the pregnancy and never allowed me to believe our baby might not make it. 

     I went on modified bedrest at home at 28 weeks and was admitted to the hospital at 30 weeks after my ultrasound showed some funneling.  I spent the next 4 weeks on Magnesium Sulfate and Procardia in the hospital room closest to the operating room so I could be rushed there quickly if the need arose.  My husband spent nearly every night with me, sleeping in one of those terrible pull out chairs, and took digital photos of the vending machine in the hallway so I could pick out a snack.  The nurses told me they’d never seen a patient with prenatally diagnosed vasa previa.  I lived in constant fear of seeing blood when I went to the bathroom and at 33.5 weeks, the blood was there – just a small amount, but my heart stopped.  The nurses rushed in, the doctor 2 minutes later and within an hour, the decision had been made that Sean would be delivered by c-section at 34 weeks instead of 35 as planned.   

     My husband spent the night the day before Sean’s birthday and we woke up at 6 a.m. to get ready.  The nurses turned off the Mag and got me ready for the C-section.  Dr. Coppage delivered Sean at 8:31 a.m. on January 17, 2007.  He came out crying and scored 9/9 on his APGARs.  It seemed too good to be true… and was, to some extent.  Sean started grunting and was whisked away to the NICU, where he received air through a C-PAP, then a nasal canula.  He spent 7 days in the NICU until he was allowed to go home after gaining weight, starting to nurse and regulating his temperature.  He weighed 5 lbs. on the day we brought him home. 

     Sean is now 5 months old and he’s a laughing, kicking, green bean-eating 17 lb. bouncing baby boy.  I don’t know why we were lucky enough to be prenatally diagnosed.  Thank you to Drs. Siddiqi, Coppage, Lambers, Voss, Marcotte, Brady and everyone at the Seton Center and Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Nurse Emily and Nurse Bev in the Special Care OB unit and Nurse Wendy in the NICU.  They took such good care of us and made me cry tears of joy when they brought me popsicles and a fan (you know what I’m talking about, girls who were on Mag!).  I’ll never forget them or the men and women on the IVPF email list who helped us through all of this. 

~ Lesley & Ben Koth