A baby born at 24-weeks weighing just one-pound was saved by a team of doctors and nurses, including some who loaded a truck with NICU supplies and drove through a winter storm to reach her. Kimberly Arias hit the road in ice and snow to make it to the hospital on February 17th after feeling pain, which turned out to be contractions. She gave birth to baby Zaylynn at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Marble Falls, Texas, but they don’t offer the specialized neonatal care premature babies require.
The hospital was trying to find a medical transport team to fly or drive Zaylynn to a NICU, but this was all happening while snow and ice were dumping on central Texas, making roads impassable. Their plea for help reached Dr. John Lloyd, division neonatologist chief at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, who knew his help was needed, so he found a way to get there. He packed his SUV with NICU equipment and made the two-hour drive with two NICU nurses to reach Zaylynn.
They worked overnight with hospital staff to monitor the newborn girl and by the next afternoon, weather cleared up enough for a helicopter from Dell Children’s Medical Center to land and bring Zaylynn back. Loyd describes the baby as “probably the most vulnerable patient in the state of Texas” during the winter storm and while she’s going to be in the hospital for several months, she’s doing well. He says, “Her chance of her growing up and going to school and having friends and all those things that we want our children to do, is very good."
Source: Good Morning America