Every Friday night, Belinda Soneson makes the trip from Elba, Neb., to Omaha. But she doesn’t mind — she’s going to see her “little miracle man,” Trevor.
The 3-hour drive gives Belinda and her husband time to reflect on the past few months and how lucky they are.
“If we had waited even a couple of hours to get to Omaha neither of us would be here,” Belinda said. “I know that Dr. (Carl) Smith and his team saved my life. They took over and knew just what to do. I am so grateful,” she said.
What started as a normal pregnancy went very wrong in June when Belinda noticed that her feet were swollen. Although she knew some swelling was a normal part of pregnancy, she also knew that not being able to wear her shoes only half-way into her pregnancy was not normal. But she found out just how bad it was when her doctor in Grand Island, walked into the exam room.
“He took one look at me and said, ‘Forget your feet, look at your face,’ and he sent me to the hospital in Grand Island right away,” Belinda said.
Belinda had developed severe toxemia and high blood pressure, which was causing her to retain large amounts of fluid. Within a few weeks, the condition had worsened and was threatening the lives of both Belinda and her baby.
Her doctor in Grand Island knew that Belinda and her premature baby could get the best care in Omaha, so he sent her by medical helicopter to The Nebraska Medical Center and the Maternal Fetal Medicine program.
“Centers such as ours are better equipped to handle seriously ill mothers and babies and do so with more regularity than small hospitals. Her physician was well aware of these issues and in my opinion made the correct decision,” said Carl Smith, M.D., professor and chairman, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UNMC and a specialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine The Nebraska Medical Center.
By the time Belinda arrived at The Nebraska Medical Center, her blood pressures and liver function tests had worsened. To further complicate the situation, her platelet count was dropping. Platelets are the cells that help blood clot.
“Situations like this are fraught with danger for both mother and baby,” Dr. Smith explained. “In most instances we are able to wait 48 hours for the beneficial effects of steroids to improve lung function, reduce brain bleeds and lower mortality. Belinda was far too ill to permit even this delay. So, even though she was extremely premature we were left with no option but to deliver her by Cesarean.”
On June 13, Trevor was born by emergency C-section at The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He was 15 weeks early and just shy of 2 pounds. Now growing and thriving in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Trevor weighs more than 4 pounds and could go home to Elba in about six weeks. Belinda got to see her tiny infant for only a split second before he was rushed off to the NICU.
“I was so scared for Trevor, he was so little,” Belinda said.
Now, 10 weeks later, Belinda is looking forward to bringing her baby home. Trevor will spend the next few weeks eating, sleeping and growing in the NICU. He should go home with mom and dad in late September — right around his original due date. Until then, Belinda and her husband get daily updates on Trevor’s condition from the NICU and look forward to Friday nights when it’s their turn to take care of him.
“When we leave the hospital on Sunday, we usually cry all the way home,” Belinda said. “But they are tears of joy because we realize that Trevor’s our little miracle.”