Expert Neonatal Care Saves Premature Baby
At 25 weeks pregnant, Mabel De Beunza returned from a business trip and noticed she was swollen and her blood pressure was unusually high.
Up until then, her pregnancy had been uneventful.
“I had the most amazing pregnancy,” said De Beunza. “I didn’t have any morning sickness, and I had been feeling well. I had been suffering from hypertension, but it was under control.”
When De Beunza went to see her doctor, her blood pressure was extremely high at 232/115. A normal range for blood pressure is a top number that is between 90 and 120, and a bottom number that is between 60 and 80.
High blood pressure and protein in the urine are key factors in pre-eclampsia – a condition that can lead to serious and even fatal complications for both mother and baby.
Doctors diagnosed De Beunza with this condition, and discovered that her kidneys were failing.
Because she needed additional care from an OB/GYN who specialized in high-risk pregnancies, De Beunza was transferred to the Women’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial.
“My doctor said our best chances of survival – for both my baby and I – would be at Jackson,” she recalled. “My doctor felt that given my baby’s gestational age Jackson’s NICU was his best option.”
On January 29, at 6:15 p.m., Salih Yasin, MD, a UHealth – University of Miami Health System OB/GYN, delivered De Beunza’s baby boy during an emergency Cesarean section at the Women’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial. Adrian Exposito was nearly 26 weeks gestation, weighing one pound, five ounces.
His situation critical, the medical team rushed Adrian to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Holtz Children’s Hospital.
“I just kept looking at the clock. I was trying to focus on the moment and not panic,” remembers De Beunza. “I just wanted my baby to survive.”
Adrian was placed on a high frequency ventilator for seven weeks, and struggled with his underdeveloped lungs. With round-the-clock care in the NICU at Holtz Children’s, he gained weight and grew strong.
Nearly four months after birth, Adrian was able to go home with his parents. Now nine months old, Adrian is thriving, loves eating vegetables and chicken, and playing with his mother and father.
For her part, De Beunza says she will always credit the medical teams at the Women’s Hospital at Jackson and Holtz Children’s with saving her life and her baby boy’s life.
“I owe my son’s life to the compassionate care Adrian received at the NICU. When things became a real medical trial for them, they flexed their muscles and did everything possible to get us to defy all odds, and get him off a high frequency ventilator,” said De Beunza. “The medical staff is the epitome of medical science as it relates to neonatology. We are a family today because of them – they are our family.”