I was 1 day shy of being 28 weeks pregnant and I was driving home after my daughter, Kalin (16 months) and I, picked up my son Blake (4 1/2 ) from preschool. We were almost home when apparently I lost control of the car, slid into a concrete culvert and overturned. Fortunately, a neighbor, Mark Campbell, was driving by and realized he knew the passengers in the wrecked car and stopped. Mark immediately called 911 and help was on the way. James, my husband, was traveling on business and had to be tracked down in the St. Louis, Missouri airport. He caught the next flight home thinking the whole way that his family was dead. I can not imagine the torture he was going though until he actually arrived at the hospital and learned of our condition.
The children were taken to the local hospital, and after assessing the seriousness of my injuries, I was air lifted to the University of Kentucky Hospital. Both Kalin and Blake were treated and released with virtually no injuries. I, on the other hand, was not doing as well. I was unconscious, not breathing, had no pulse, no blood pressure and was obviously pregnant. The doctors feared the worst for me and decided to perform and emergency caesarian section after doing an emergency ultrasound and realizing the baby had abrupted 80% (placenta pulled away). Within 7 minutes of my arrival at the hospital, my daughter Lauren Taylor was born. Once she was taken from me, I apparently regained my vitals. They proceeded to do exploratory surgery and several other tests. The doctors determined that I had sustained a closed head injury, but nothing else. I remained in a coma for several days, but after regaining consciousness, I progressed rapidly and was released after only 6 days. Little did I know, while lying in a coma, that my third child, a little girl, had been born 12 weeks premature. Weighing 1155grams (2.8 pounds) and only 15" long, she was quite lifeless, had to be intubated (put on a machine to breathe for her), during which she had a seizure, and immediately had to be transfused (given blood). Taylor's APGAR score at 1 minute was 3 and at 5 minutes, 4.
I was able to meet my little angel when she was 4 days old. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. My other children were born healthy and on time. It looked as though I was going to loose this one. She was so small and helpless. Over the next several days I visited her as much as I could. By the 11th day she looked great! I remember saying to my husband, "We are so lucky. Our baby is just small, these other babies are so sick." We left the hospital on a high, feeling everything was going to be okay.
The next day was Mother's Day. At about 1:00 AM my husband answered the phone. It was one of the doctors saying they believed she had a bowel infection called NEC, Necrotizing Enterocolitis, and thought we better get there as soon as we could. NEC is a deterioration of the intestinal tract. It is caused by inflammation of the intestinal tract or decreased blood supply to the bowel. It can lead to perforation of the bowel if not caught early. Upon arrival, we looked at our sick little girl. She had changed so quickly. The doctor's were very informative and told us exactly what to expect. The thought was that she would perforate her bowel wall, need surgery and was in grave danger. Hour after hour went by and her conditioned worsened, but she never perforated. Test after test, and x-ray after x-ray eventually started to show some improvement. Taylor was getting better.
It was a definite roller coaster ride. Our emotions were out of our control. We had to juggle our fears of loosing our newest baby while still managing to give emotional support to our other two children. Without the help of our families, I don't know how we'd have managed. It is really a blessing to have such wonderful people to rely on.
Eventually, the feeds resumed, slowly. Taylor's platelet count and blood count was low and she had to be transfused several times. I find it amazing what these little people can withstand. After several weeks Taylor developed another infection. Her feeds were put on hold and antibiotics resumed once again. This time wasn't as serious. I just knew that after surviving the wreck and NEC, GOD was not going to take my little girl away. Even though I was scared to death, something inside kept me at peace with what was going on. Slowly but surely, Taylor got better. There had been something missing just going into the NICU and just looking at her and touching her. After 23 days I was finally able to hold by baby. It was the greatest feeling in the world. I finally felt complete.
After many more weeks, on her 62nd day, Taylor was released from the hospital. We were so glad to finally be bringing her home. No oxygen, no monitors, no nothing!
After about 2 weeks at an eye exam visit, it was determined that the eye disease, ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) had gotten worse. She was in StageIII and at a threshold of having to undergo laser surgery. Dr. Andrew Pearson suggested she go back on oxygen, so she did. Now that I had gotten through the serious stuff and thought I could handle anything, I had to face the fact my little girl may go blind. Visit after visit, her conditioned remained borderline, no change. Finally, at the age of 21 weeks, he said "I think she's going to be okay". The ROP is starting to go away! At this point, at almost 5 months of age , Taylor is off her oxygen and awaiting a thumbs up from Dr. Pearson.
I don't know what we would have done without the support of the incredible NICU nurses, especially Taylor's primary, Alice Carpenter. She would always give it to us straight, but kept our spirit up. It was very comforting to know that whenever we would go home, there was someone there that genuinely cared about our little girl and not someone there just to put in their time. The doctors were equally concerned. I remember many times hearing of them calling in or stopping by just to see how Taylor was doing. Dr. Josh Steiner was one of them. Without the help of such a wonderful group of doctors and nurses at the University of Kentucky Hospital, I really don't think either one of us would be here today and for that I am incredibly and forever grateful. I also give my thanks to the superb prenatal care I received from Dr. Tony Dotson. He not only took very good care of me physically, he helped me keep my head on straight both while I was pregnant and after the accident. Many of the members of my surgical team inquired about how I and Taylor was doing. This support really helped me make it through all the tough times.I am very lucky to have had such a warm and caring group of physicians. THANK YOU ALL!
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