Moms and dads, imagine this: You’re pregnant with your first bundle of joy when a great job opportunity comes up in the next state, five weeks before your due date.
You pack up your stuff and move from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Quincy, Illinois, and live in your mom and dad’s basement until you can close on your new home in a couple of weeks.
Sound a little stressful?
We haven’t reached the stressful part yet.
Alexis and Grady Hugunin experienced the situation described above earlier this summer. Alexis, the daughter of a Blessing employee, established care with nationally board-certified Blessing Health System obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Ivan Trinh upon arriving in Quincy. Alexis saw Dr. Trinh twice before the really stressful stuff occurred.
“My water broke the night of June 3,” she said. “We knew at that time the baby was breech (upside down). I was very nervous. This is too early. This can’t be happening.” The baby was due July 6.
Alexis and husband Grady bee-lined to Blessing Hospital and the Blessed Beginnings maternity care unit where they saw a member of the OB/GYN Hospitalist team that provides on-site emergency care, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
After assessing Alexis, the OB-GYN hospitalist decided the best course of action would be to do an emergency Caesarean section. Dr. Trinh was called.
“He was awesome,” Alexis said of Dr. Trinh. “Within the first hour of us being at the hospital, we saw a friendly face. He was there right away. Dr Trinh did another ultrasound right before the C-section to confirm that my baby was still breech and had not changed positions. We felt confident. He was making sure all his ducks were in a row before performing a surgery that might not be necessary. That made us feel good.”
“And throughout the C-section he was very calm and talking to me. Knowing he was not stressed out, that this was a normal day for him, kind of made it a bit easier for me.”
“We are very happy with Dr. Trinh’s care.”
Cooper Hugunin was born at 12:40 am Wednesday, June 4, five weeks early. He was experiencing some breathing and blood sugar issues upon entering the world. In years past, Cooper might have had to be separated from his parents and transferred to a hospital in Springfield, Illinois or St. Louis, Missouri, to receive care. That changed a year-and-a-half-ago when 16-year Blessing Hospital nurse Lacy Nichols became Blessing Health System’s first nationally board-certified neonatal nurse practitioner. Her expertise allows most premature babies born at Blessing to stay at Blessing to receive the care they need.
“After working for many years as a neonatal RN, I realized that I wanted to make an even bigger impact on the tiny lives I was caring for,” Lacy said. “Becoming a neonatal nurse practitioner has allowed me to do just that.”
“Having the ability to manage and treat premature and sick newborns like Cooper, right here in our community, is the most rewarding part of my job. There are obviously still situations when a baby may need to be transferred out, but I make sure every newborn I encounter gets the best opportunity to remain here at Blessing Hospital.”
Lacy assumed Cooper’s care and in less than 24 hours his condition stabilized. “The hospitalists, Dr. Trinh and Lacy had a very calm demeanor, very assured, very confident that they had what they needed to properly treat Cooper and me,” Alexis said. “Their confidence made me feel more assured in a very scary situation.”
“Lacy was very personable. She checked on us multiple times a day. She calmly and clearly explained what was going on in a way that was not daunting or over-complicated.”
The happy Hugunin family was discharged from the hospital two days after Cooper’s birth and were now ready to close on their new home and begin their new life in Quincy.
“It was super nice to stay at Blessing and get the care we needed,” Alexis concluded.
In addition to its OB emergency care and neonatal nurse practitioner, Blessed Beginnings is recognized by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois as a Blue Distinction® Centers (BDC) for Maternity Care. To earn the designation, the Blessed Beginnings team met or exceeded quality selection criteria set by the BDC program. Those designated as Blue Distinction Centers show statistically significant differences in key clinical outcomes compared to their peers and demonstrate better quality and improved outcomes for patients.
Blessed Beginnings also participates in the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative’s (ILPQC) Birth Equity Initiative that focuses on assurance of the conditions for optimal birth outcomes for all people, grounded in a sustained commitment to confronting racial and social inequities.
For more information on maternity care at Blessing, go to blessinghealth.org/blessedbeginnings.