The first two trimesters of my pregnancy sailed along smoothly so at 29 weeks hubby and I decided to make that last trip to see our parents. During our 8 hour car ride, I began to feel pressure on my pelvic bones. I chalked it up to sitting too long. Upon our return, at 31 weeks I began having definite contractions every 45 min. I thought they were Braxton-Hicks, but my OB hauled me in just to be sure. Turns out I was 1 cm dialated and 80% effaced! I was put on limited activity and at 32 weeks, complete bedrest because the baby had dropped to zero station. He was ready to join the world, but the world wasn't ready for him.The pressure in my pelvic bones 3 weeks before turned out to be the baby dropping into the birth canal. Bedrest was hell and there's no getting around it. Five weeks of doing nothing sounds good until you realize it means DO NOTHING! My world was limited to my bed, the couch, a La-Z-Boy hubby pulled up to the computer, and the bathroom. That's it. Ron had to pack me a lunch each morning before heading off to work.He had to do all grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, laundry- everything. Not fun. Thank God I had an unlimited time plan for the Internet. I stayed on chat sites for hours and when I got bored with that, played a lot of Nintendo and read a lot of books. Ron took a list of about 30 books into the library for me and each day would go by and return what I finished and see if any of my requests came in. I was required to do home monitoring twice a day. It's ironic. I could do nothing but lie there all day, but when I put that belt on and had to stay immobile for an hour, all I wanted to do was squirm. I was also put on oral Brethine to control the contractions. You see, I never quit being in labor. The bedrest just stalled the progress. I'm not sure when the pains started as days blended together. I lived for my weekly trip to the OB. No protein was found, my blood pressure was fine, everything was looking good except for that pesky little labor problem.

      At 37 weeks, I was paroled from bedrest and immediately began feeling tightenings in my abdomen. I was at the hospital 24 hours after stopping the medication for false labor. Since all my tests and workups were normal, the pains were attributed to Braxton-Hicks and early labor since it was okay for me to be in labor now. At 38 weeks, Ron left for a much deserved night out with the guys and a half an hour after he left, I began getting pain in what I now know was my liver. I knew I wasn't in active labor- that I could certainly judge by this point!- but I knew something was horribly wrong and I couldn't handle it alone by myself. My girlfriend came and took me to the hospital.

      My OB arrived and I was settled into an L&D room at 5:30 pm. Hooked up to a monitor- again - and given an IV line since I said I wanted an epidural when life got rough. They ran all the blood work again and when my doctor checked me out, she ordered a Pitocin drip and told me we were going to have this baby tonight. I think she had an inkling there was trouble but didn't want to scare me with Ron not there. The anestheisiologist, my new best friend, arrived with my epidural. I was a happy girl.They broke my water and the fun started. We found my hubby and he got there about 10:30. Since I had an epidural, they ran a continuous monitor on me and the baby. The baby's heart rate began to fluctuate and so they switched to internal monitors.I was so thirsty I was eating the ice chips like a Slushee. Must've put away 5 or 6 16 oz cups of ice chips. Later, they weren't real happy about that. All night we were there waiting for me to finish dialating. It came to the point where one side of my cervix was dialated to 6 and the other was at 8. My kid had to be different and decided to come out at an angle. They tried to turn him and couldn't. During that process his heart rate went crazy. My OB decided it was time for a c-section.

      I was pretty calm about the whole thing. Somehow I knew early in my pregnancy I was going to have a c/s. Don't ask me how I knew. I got scared when I thought the anestheisology assistant overdosed me. She came in thinking she was going to up my epidural and after administering the drugs, found out we were going to the OR. The girl was trying to do the math to adjust the dosage and I went hysterical. They told me I would be numb from my breasts down, but my hands began to go numb and I though I was going to die. A smart doctor would've given me general anestheisia, but remember those ice chips?

      Ron had to wait in the hall while they prepped me for the surgery. They tied my hands down and did whatever else they did. Ron got into his "nuclear radiation suit" and sat by my head holding my hand. This is a man who is still trying to figure out when they changed the rules about dads in normal delivery and here he was in the OR suite. I could feel pressure but not pain. I began screaming that I could feel them cutting me. I was feeling the pressure. They gave me laughing gas. I heard my son cry as they delivered him. William James Woodard was born at 5:31 am on November 3 ,1996 weighing 5 lbs 6 oz and 19". He peed on the doctor as his first hello to the world. The staff led Ron over to my son Billy with his back to the surgery and while Ron played with the baby and took pictures, they put me back together. Ron tells me this part happened but I didn't believe him until I saw the picture. I apparently started screaming for someone to %^*%(* get over here with my son so I could see him right now &*%^#*&%. I have the most marvelous picture of me with my arms tied down and someone holding Billy and introducing me to my son. It makes me cry when I look at it.

      Post-op seemed to go well until about 16 hours later. At some point they came in to do follow up blood work. Around 8 pm they came in to do another series and at 9:30 I was being rushed back down to L&D as it was the only place available with special care nursing. I had HELLP syndrome. HELLP syndrome is a variation of pre-eclampsia with liver pain and a low platelet count. A normal platelet count is about 150,000. Mine was 14,000. When my OB ordered the initial work in labor, some fool brought the results from my false labor trip a week before. My OB performed a flawless c-section never suspecting that I had the potential for hemmorage and no clotting ability. I spent 3 days on the high-risk maternity ward since normal post partum could not care for my special condition.

      Thank You for letting me share my story.I am happy to tell you that the Woodards are wonderful six months later. Billy is now 16 lbs and 27" long. I have a body temperature problem that may be related to the HELLP syndrome. I just put on a sweater and everyone's comfortable.If you run across anyone else who sounds like they might have had HELLP, pass my e- mail along. I have information they need.