Quick work by UTMB Labor and Delivery and Neonatal teams help one of their own, save baby's life
Erin Lindsey and her husband, Eric Trout, bring baby Jackson to visit with some of the Labor and Delivery and Neonatal nursing staff who helped save his life. From left: Amelia Mohammed, Cindy Minton-Marshall, Mallory Fulmer, Tomeka Washington, Erin Lindsey, baby Jackson, Eric Trout, Betsy Peterson and Loretta Diffee.
“The best laid plans often go astray.” Erin Lindsey would know. As a midwife at UTMB, she’s seen carefully thought-out birth plans turn into emergency cesarean sections and “Plan Bs,” but she never expected that to happen during her own pregnancy.
Up until 38 weeks, Lindsey’s pregnancy was pretty uneventful, with no complications. But on the night of Sept. 3, something just didn’t feel right. She had arrived for her shift in Labor and Delivery on a busy night, with all the patient rooms full and a jam-packed waiting and triage area.
“I finished a delivery around 4 a.m. and just happened to walk by a triage room that was open for the first time that night,” said Lindsey, recalling the events of the night. “I wandered over just to check in on the baby with the Doppler, and I didn’t like what I heard. He wasn’t moving. Fortunately, three of the best nurses were sitting outside and didn’t like what they heard either. In no time,
I had the whole team ready and waiting for an emergency C-section. Not quite the way we had planned.”
Within 20 minutes from her placement on the monitor, Lindsey was in the OR. In less than five minutes—one minute from incision—they had baby Jackson out. The entire case took 15 minutes.
Jackson spent seven days in the Infant Special Care Unit before going home. The entire time, Lindsey never doubted the hands she was in.
“As I have seen from the other side for years, the entire Labor and Delivery and Neonatal teams came together and worked in harmony to ensure that Jackson and I came through safely,” said Lindsey.
“While I was pregnant, people would often ask where I planned to deliver, but for me, there was never another option. I planned on delivering at UTMB precisely because I knew what we could do. And on Sept. 4, I experienced firsthand just how good we are. What’s so great about this place is that people can choose to have a midwife—someone who will spend more time with you and give you that model of care—but also have this great backup system that moves so incredibly fast when it needs to. My son would not be here today if it weren’t for everyone who came together that night.”
Today, Jack is happy and healthy, and “growing like crazy.” Lindsey and her husband, Eric Trout, who is a nurse practitioner with UTMB’s Regional Maternal and Child Health Program, recently brought their son back to Labor and Delivery to see some of the nursing staff who were there the night Jackson decided to make his dramatic debut.
Mallory Fulmer, a Labor and Delivery nurse, said everyone went into autopilot as soon as they realized something was wrong.
“There were some scary moments, definitely,” said Fulmer. “But seeing how well Jackson is doing today, it’s awesome. It makes what we do all worth it.”
As brand new parents, Lindsey and her husband say they are eternally grateful to the UTMB team.
“I firmly believe people are where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there,” said Lindsey. “If things hadn’t gone the way they had, Jackson wouldn’t be here. Everything lined up the way it was meant to and, for that, I’m forever grateful.”