Sonia Mann Lehl began advocating for herself and her baby the minute her water broke in the middle of the night, just before Thanksgiving 2022. Although she was only 24 weeks and five days pregnant—and hadn’t experienced her water breaking for the births of her two older sons—she knew what was happening. And she knew she had to take control.
“It was the middle of the night. I woke my husband up and said, ‘I’ve got to go.’ I drove myself to Hoag. I didn’t want to wait for an ambulance. I knew I’d end up at Hoag Newport Beach, but I didn’t want to drive there, so I drove to Hoag Irvine, because it’s just down the street,” she said.
The doctors and nurses immediately went to work on Sonia and kept her informed of the purpose of every monitor, injection, and pill. While Sonia was too terrified to comprehend what they were saying, one thing stuck with her: “I remember the doctor saying that I could remain pregnant. I didn’t know that was possible. I just grabbed on to that.”
Sonia was transferred to Hoag Newport Beach’s antepartum unit in the Sue & Bill Gross Women’s Pavilion, where she stayed for five weeks as her baby grew. Sonia struggled to be away from her family for such a long time—especially her sons Deyvan and Armaan, who were ages 8 and 14 at the time—but she had confidence in her care team.
“Everything from antepartum to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), I look at as a positive, because my baby got the attention he needed,” Sonia said. “The nurses were amazing. It wasn’t just that they were doing their job; they genuinely care about you,” she said.
This personalized approach was put to the test on Christmas Day, when Sonia’s placenta erupted, putting her and her baby’s lives in jeopardy.
“I was super scared, and the nurse knew me well enough by then that she made sure I didn’t know my life was at risk. If I had known, I would have fainted,” she said. “She was just really good at comforting me and not adding to my stress. My husband wasn’t there, but my sister was. The nurse made sure my sister stayed with me. She knew I needed someone, so I was never alone.”
With an experienced and compassionate medical team by her side, Sonia remained calm during the birth of her baby, Jeean Jayden Lehl, who was born with underdeveloped lungs that required care in Hoag’s Level IIIa NICU.
While Jeean Jayden grew stronger in the NICU for 10 weeks, neonatologist Zubin Mehta, MD, and the rest of Hoag’s NICU team empowered Sonia to continue advocating for her baby.
“The nurses and doctors there were amazing. They would say, ‘You’re the advocate for this baby. You are the expert,’” she said. “At first, I didn’t know what they meant. I don’t even know this baby yet, but as the weeks progressed, I understood: They listen to you. You know your baby.”
To be the best advocate for her baby, Sonia needed information. Here, too, she found Hoag empowering.
“In the NICU a lot is happening, and some of it I’d tune out because I wasn’t ready to hear it,” she said. “Once I was ready, I said, ‘Can we have a meeting?’ Literally everyone came back, and we all sat down and met. The doctors, the respiratory therapists, the occupational therapists, everyone. The compassion and empathy they have for you, their ability to recognize where you are on your journey—I’ve never experienced that in my life.”
As focused as they were on her baby, Hoag’s team also ensured Sonia took care of herself, putting her in touch with Hoag’s Maternal Mental Health Program. Thanks to philanthropic funding, the program’s licensed therapists and reproductive psychiatrists treat perinatal mood and anxiety disorders throughout pregnancy and postpartum. Moms have access to individual and group therapy and medication management, as well as preconception planning.
“It’s something I think every woman should get as soon as they have a baby,” she said. “They give you the right tools based on who you are and the situation and your needs going through something like this. I walked away in a better mental state.”
Today, Jeean Jayden is a healthy toddler reaching developmental milestones, and Sonia is turning her advocacy to others. She shares her story to encourage other women to take advantage of the prenatal, antepartum, and postpartum resources available to them at Hoag in Newport Beach—and in Irvine, where the new Women’s Hospital Pavilion, scheduled to open in 2026, will bring expanded access to care. The Fudge Family Birthing Suites, currently open on Hoag’s Sun Family Campus in Irvine, will relocate to the new pavilion, which will also house 24 labor and delivery suites, 21 antepartum and postpartum rooms, and a new 17-bed level III NICU, among other services.
Sonia is excited about the growth of the Sun Family Campus in Irvine because it will give more women in South County easier access to Hoag’s care— and Hoag’s care is “incredible,” she said.
“I am so glad that I was here when I went through this. We’re such big fans of Hoag that now all my doctors are at Hoag,” said Sonia. “I’m grateful to put these experiences in the past, but I talk about it because I’m in a position to advocate and educate people.”
