When delivering prematurely, many complications can arise for both the mother and baby. April Santory and fiancé, John, both experienced the pain of watching their newborn son, Odin, struggle for survival. Thankfully, Odin was in good hands at Magee’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where he remained for the majority of three long months.
Read April’s story:
About 29 weeks into my pregnancy, my blood pressure started to elevate and reached 170/90. As a precaution, I was admitted to the local hospital to see my prenat al doctor, Dr. Andrew Spergel. He immediately started me on non-stress tests to control my escalating blood pressure and steroid injections to mature the baby’s lungs. I had really high levels of protein in my urine and was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a pregnancy disorder. The only way to “cure” this disease is to deliver the baby.
To the right: April feeds her newborn son, Odin, soon after he was born.
To make matters worse, they noticed my unborn son’s heart rate was irregular. As a result, I was transported to Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC on February 28, 2007.
At the time of my Magee admittance, I was 30 weeks along in my pregnancy. The doctors thought it was best to deliver my son right away. John and I were very frightened, but the doctors and nurses were so supportive.
Our son, Odin Zeus Collins, was delivered by emergency C-Section at 8:58 p.m. that day. Afterward, I was hooked up to a magnesium drip through an IV because of my escalating blood pressure. I had to wait 24 hours to even visit with my newborn son – making it an unbearably long day.
After delivery, Odin was rushed to Magee’s NICU. For three months Odin remained in either Magee’s NICU or Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s NICU. He faced complications because of his diagnosis of having necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) – an infection and inflammation of the intestines. NEC is most common among premature newborns.
Because of Odin’s diagnosis, he endured an ileostomy, which cured him of NEC when he was only three months old.
The Magee staff was amazing and they supported us throughout our entire stay. The NICU nurses taught us how to bathe Odin while in the incubator, how to swaddle him when we wanted to hold him, and they maintained a chart of his weight and other measurements displayed for us to view at our leisure.
The rooms at the NICU were very private as we had our own “pod”. Impressively enough, Magee’s state-of-art NICU offers a more intimate environment for babies and their families with 48 private  rooms and a 15-bed open area, making it the largest single bay facility in the country!
Today, Odin is a highly active one year old. He took his first steps right after his first birthday and has had no developmental delays. Now, he’s beginning to talk and form words.
“Odin is our world,” expresses April. “John and I can’t thank the Magee NICU staff enough for all of their support and kindness through a very scary and trying time for first-time parents.”
OPPORTUNITIES FOR GIVING: Neonatal Intensive Care
OUR COMMITMENT: Neonatology
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