Racheel Crossley
Late in her second pregnancy Racheel Crossley arrived for a routine office visit with Dr. James Gorman, an OB/GYN at
Parkhill Clinic for Women, located at
Washington Regional’s Women and Infants Center.
During the appointment, Dr. Gorman asked Racheel about the baby’s activity level. “The baby hadn’t really been moving much, but I was near the end of my pregnancy,” Racheel says. “My first baby had been really big, so I just thought this baby was running out of room.” Performing an ultrasound in the clinic, Dr. Gorman wasn’t satisfied with the movement he saw on the monitor, so he sent Racheel for more detailed testing at the Women and Infants Center.
There Racheel had a biophysical profile, which is a combination of tests to evaluate the baby’s condition. While the test results were not outside the normal range, Dr. Scott Bailey, the Parkhill OB/GYN who was on call, recommended Racheel be admitted as a patient and be put on a fetal monitor. “He said he was 99 percent sure everything was OK, but because of that one percent he didn’t want to send me home,” Racheel says. Before long, the monitor showed the baby’s heart rate was beginning to drop. A team arrived then to get Racheel to the operating room so Dr. Bailey could deliver the baby immediately via cesarean section.
Baby Everett was born with anemia, a low red blood cell count – a potentially serious condition in newborns, since red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body. Anemia had been the cause of his lethargy in utero.
Racheel says Dr. Marla Lightburn, Medical Director of the Level 3
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Washington Regional, explained that Everett was born with fewer than 20 percent of the red blood cells he needed to be healthy. He was in the NICU and would need a blood transfusion.
“After that, he did great,” Racheel says. “He was off oxygen by the second night and just steadily progressed from there. Dr. Lightburn was amazing. I’m so glad she’s at Washington Regional.”
Racheel recalls the skilled and compassionate team of nurses as well. “We had amazing nurses. They were really good to us,” Racheel says. “One of them helped my older son make a name tag for himself and the baby. She let him pick out the border he wanted around them. He really liked that.”
Even after Racheel was released from the hospital, she and her family were able to stay at the
Ronald McDonald House so they could remain near the baby. Located on the fourth floor of the Women and Infants Center, the Ronald McDonald House offers – at no cost – private guest suites in a serene and supportive environment for families who have babies in the NICU.
“Between the amazing doctors, great nurses and being able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House, Washington Regional was wonderful to our family,” Racheel says.
Everett is home now and doing great. “He’s growing, he’s eating fine. Everything is normal,” according to his proud mom. “I can say this because I’ve had a baby at another hospital: I don’t believe the outcome would have been the same if we hadn’t been at Washington Regional, with the talented doctors and nurses there,” Racheel says. “I am super grateful.”