Gratitude Amid “One of the Hardest Stretches of My Life”
A mom shares her experience of having a baby in intensive care and her thanks to the team that got her through it.
A Mother’s Gratitude:
Special Care Nursery team members at Alamance Regional Medical Center were delighted recently to receive a sweet treat and an even sweeter visit. Vanessa S. delivered her baby, Thea, there four years ago and brought her in for a reunion. She brought the team cupcakes in appreciation.
Thea’s story in her mother’s words.
On the evening of March 23, 2019, I was rushed into surgery for an emergency C-section and one of the hardest 19 day stretches of my life began. Thea was born perfect but five weeks premature and with frighteningly low blood sugar and an inability to eat. 
She was rushed to the Special Care Nursery (SCN) at Alamance Regional Medical Center with her father Dennis and a team of angels at her side.
Those angels saved her life that night and kept all of us going when postpartum hormones mixing with my bipolar disorder threatened to create a depressive spiral from which I couldn't escape. We were both distraught at being separated from Thea as we fell in love at first sight.
Every moment that I could, I would shuffle from my hospital bed to sit in the SCN and just hold her. She had an IV, a feeding tube, was under bilirubin lights, and didn't eat on her own for her first 17 days. I fought to stay in the hospital with her but was sent home to recover myself. Even still, I was a fixture in the nursery from the time I woke to the time the night shift would send me home to sleep.
The staff at Alamance Regional were so supportive emotionally, it seemed like they had been in my shoes with the same fears and feelings; they understood not just what Thea needed medically but what I needed too. They would force me to leave so that I could eat and sleep and even kept us laughing!
One day when being buzzed into the SCN, a nurse named Bill made Dennis and I dance to be admitted. When tears came, the hugs were always plentiful.
On day 18, Dennis and I were unceremoniously shooed out the door to go on a date outside the hospital and we returned to hear the amazing news that Thea could come home the next day!
There is no exaggeration when I say I would not have survived without the incredible support of everyone we interacted with at Alamance Regional. Thea has blossomed into a vibrant, happy 4-year-old who loves Mickey Mouse, octopods, art, and playschool. Dennis and I treasure her and our lives as parents together and have you all to thank. No number of cheesecakes or cupcakes could ever repay our debt.
