Family Profile
Gerald Family Home: Clever, MO (Christian County)
Our daughter London
was born at 36 weeks on February 18, 2020, via scheduled C-section due to a previous uterine rupture. Despite two rounds of steroids to strengthen her lungs, London was born with respiratory distress and sent to the NICU for evaluation and monitoring. Shortly after, she was brought back to me and seemed to be doing fine. We went to the postpartum floor to finish our stay. By some miracle of God, there was an undetected scale discrepancy that caused doctors to take her weight loss more seriously than they might have. Because of this, London stayed on the postpartum floor five days. After recognizing the scale discrepancy, London was scheduled for discharge. Hospital procedures required that she pass a car seat challenge test. Her oxygen levels must remain above 87% for 90 minutes in a car seat. She failed. After a second failed test, we secured a car bed and repeated the test. Tracey, her father, went with her during the test while I packed - because who fails a car bed test? He called me after about 20 minutes to report that London had failed the car bed test and was being transferred back to NICU for monitoring. Apparently, her oxygen levels were staying in the mid 80’s. We later learned that her central nervous system wasn’t developed enough to remind her to breathe. This was called extreme periodic breathing or sleep apnea of infancy. One physician told us that it generally takes about five days to present. Had we not stayed longer due to the scale discrepancy, I’m not sure I would be writing this - praise God! After being admitted to the NICU, we realized we needed a longer-term living arrangement. Our home was 30 minutes away and our three young children, ages two, four, and six, had already been passed between friends for six days. A referral was sent for us to stay at the Ronald McDonald House, and we were given a room that day. The Ronald McDonald House staff was so accommodating! Larry, the Program Manager, walked us through the policies and rules, showed us around, helped us learn the safety protocols, and even moved us into a bigger room so our children could move in with us! There was no need too small for them. They had laundry detergent, toiletries, a beautifully decorated room, and they even offered to help us get clothes! They allowed us to have friends visit, and we even checked in a few friends to stay with our children while we both went to stay with London. We had full access to a stocked pantry and hot dinners were provided nightly. Larry would check in on us and London regularly; we felt supported throughout our entire stay. The best part was that the House was in the hospital! We were only five minutes away from our daughter at any given time! Knowing we could get to her quickly gave us such peace of mind. After more than two weeks and three false alarms, London got to go home. We straightened up our room and checked out with no hassles. The process was seamless and just what we needed when we were so preoccupied with caring for our baby. Staff at the RMH seem to have thought of everything to make an overwhelming and even frightening stay in the hospital not only bearable, but comfortable. We can’t imagine what life would have been like if we hadn’t had RMH.
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