Miracles galore save baby
Wed, 09/14/2022 - 11:33am
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By:
Marcie Klomp News Editor
CRESCO - Parents worry about their kids.
Is worry what woke up Katie Gooder on April 27, just one day after she and Zach brought their newborn home from the hospital? Was it mother’s intuition? Was it divine intervention?
Whatever it was, it was just the first in a string of miracles that resulted in a now happy, healthy and very loved four-month-old.
The story actually begins a few days earlier, when Katie’s water broke at 35 weeks. Forty is considered full term. Since three-year-old big sister Autumn had also been early and born by C-Section, the couple had plans to have their second baby in Rochester. But Ailyn had other ideas. She wanted to be born on April 24!
The couple went to Regional Health Services of Howard County and had a wonderful experience. Dr. Jensen came in at 4 a.m. and performed one of his quickest deliveries ever.
Although she was slightly premature, baby Ailyn was tested for and passed everything. She had energy and was allowed to go home with her parents and big sister.
The four were all sleeping in the living room, just a happy little family.
Katie woke up for no reason on that fateful night around 10 p.m. She decided to check on Ailyn and noticed she was blue, pale and lifeless. “It was very scary,” she said.
She ran into another room with better lighting, where she saw the baby wasn’t breathing. “I ran to the living room, yelling ‘She’s not breathing.’”
Zach continued, “I called 911, and they dispatched right away. Then I started CPR.” (Three years earlier, Autumn had also been a premie at 33 weeks and five days. She was in the hospital for two-and-a-half weeks at Mayo hospitals. Before releasing premies, parents are required to take infant CPR, and Zach remembered quickly how to perform it.)
As he was working on his three-day-old baby, wheels were turning around Cresco. The police department was called out, as well as first responders and the ambulance.
EMT Brady Norman was off duty and lived just a block away. He was first on the scene. Zach recalled, “Brady came charging into the house and whisked her away, out of my arms, into the cop car. They rushed her to the hospital.”
More law enforcement officers and medical personnel arrived. “They graciously asked us if we needed anything. They stayed with us until we said we’d drive ourselves to the ER. It was extremely touching. Every single police and EMT waited until we got to the ER. They treated us with tremendous respect. We are very appreciative of that.”
When Gooders arrived at the hospital, the doctors were already working on Ailyn. It was a very windy night, so Mayo One could not fly. They had to wait for an ambulance from Rochester.
For the next 2-3 hours, staff used a breathing bag to manually give her oxygen. “Dr. Kammerer and the staff did everything right. She had the same care she would have had if we had been at Mayo. We are lucky to have the level of care we get right here, in Cresco,” Zach said.
Gooders and the ambulance arrived in Rochester at the same time, around 5:30 a.m.
While waiting in Cresco, Brady Norman took Autumn into a separate room for an hour-and-a-half to distract her. Zach was touched. “He wasn’t even working. It was his time off!”
It wasn’t just Norman who showed compassion and help toward the family. It was everyone at RHSHC during and after their stay. Katie noted, “Dr. Maher reached out to the Mayo personnel. OB nurses called me on my cell phone. We received personalized care from everyone.”
Ailyn was in Rochester for 11 days. Those days were very worrisome for the family. Was there organ damage? Will there be developmental problems?
Since that night, baby Ailyn has been doing what babies do . . . eat, sleep, grow. Nobody is sure how long she was without oxygen, but it is likely she was still breathing shallowly. The family has not noticed any type of damage.
Katie said, “Before we were discharged, we had follow up appointments, and she is just fine. She is growing, her weight is tracking like it should. She is 100%! She’s an easy-going baby.”
Mom has only good things to say about RHSHC, from Ailyn’s birth to the present. “I recovered well from my delivery in Cresco, they did a great job under stressful circumstances, and I really felt like I received one-on-one personlized care here.”
Zach added, “We take our local services for granted, until you really need them. We are so grateful. They are the reason our daughter is here today. We tried our best to thank every one of them, but if we missed someone and you are reading this, thank you!”
But Ailyn’s parents were also instrumental in saving her. Katie woke up and found her. Zach used CPR to keep her alive until help arrived. “I strongly encourage all parents to take infant CPR because you never know when you are going to need it. We are proof of that,” he said.
The life-saving measure is one of most important things he ever learned. Zach used it on April 27. His birthday. And helped give their family the best gift of all — a healthy Ailyn.
