Special Delivery
NICU and Maternal Fetal Medicine team up for a life-saving journey in Midland, Michigan
Cosmas van De Ven, M.D., chief, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, jokes that he did it to ride in an ambulance.
George B. Mychaliska, M.D., director, Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center, says, “It was the best way to end a vacation.”
Susan Sevek, M.S.N., C.N.N.P., neonatal nurse practitioner, Holden Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, says, “I was not doing anything out of the ordinary.”
Kurt Riek, R.T.T., respiratory therapist, Mott Respiratory Care, calls it an experience he’ll never forget.
And Sara Poley, R.N., clinical nurse II, Holden NICU, says, “Without this team working diligently together, we could have never had our happy ending.”
On January 21, these five members of Maternal Fetal Medicine and Holden NICU teamed up for an extraordinary delivery … in Midland, Michigan.
Mother-to-be Danielle Harrison and her baby were scheduled for an EXIT procedure in February at U-M with Mychaliska. The EXIT procedure is a highly modified Cesarean delivery that requires a multidisciplinary team and is performed only in select fetal therapy centers. The baby is partially delivered but remains attached to the umbilical cord and the placenta until an airway is established so the baby can breathe. EXIT was necessary because a sonogram revealed that Harrison’s baby had a large neck tumor that was compressing his airway.
The only problem? Neither weather nor baby cooperated. Harrison went into labor three weeks early and during a snowstorm so fierce she couldn’t be transported to U-M by helicopter. Maternal Fetal Medicine got the call from Mid-Michigan Medical Center and everyone went into action, making the decision to go to Midland by ambulance to perform the procedure. “Everyone” included Mychaliska, who was on vacation. “It was our only chance to save the baby,” says van De Ven, who performed the EXIT procedure with Mychaliska.
“On the way to Midland, we discussed what was expected from each member of the team,” says Riek. “Communication was superb.”
Their exceptional readiness and communication came in very handy because Harrison was fully dilated when they arrived, and they delivered baby Justin about 30 minutes later.
Sevek says, “The ride back home to U-M with the baby was jovial with a sense of relief, knowing we had done a great job. We worried together as a team, and when it was over we relaxed together as a team.”
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