Miracle Monday: Couple thanks local hospital for saving premature baby’s life

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - It’s Miracle Monday and we’ve partnered with the Children’s Hospital of Georgia to share the stories of the families they have helped. We met with one couple who says because of AU’s NICU transport team their daughter is alive.

Jennifer Reid went into labor 17 weeks early at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens. Her daughter Lindi would only spend a couple weeks there.

“They were amazing, but we needed a higher level of care so at that point Lindi had exhausted all the equipment they had available,” she said.

Lindi weighed one pound and five ounces when she was born and needed life right away. Doctors suggested she be brought to the Children’s Hospital of Georgia by helicopter. A decision Jennifer says was not easy.

“I don’t even like to fly so I was a little skittish my 20-day-old baby was going to go up in a chopper without me and she wasn’t even stable. When they told me you can’t ride, but we promise we’re going to treat her like our own, that meant more to me than anything,” she said.

She says getting Lindi the care she needed within a few hours was essential, so the helicopter was their only option.

“Had our only option been an ambulance I don’t know if she would’ve survived the trip. We had to have that helicopter. We had to have that transport team, without that our story would’ve been really different,” she said.

Lindi would begin her journey at CHOG at just 20 days old. She was a micro-premie and had to spend four months in CHOG’s NICU where she would undergo various treatments.

“They had to resuscitate her. Her heart rate dropped and her oxygen level dropped and we were losing her and she would do that for the first two months she did that every few days. Multiple times, there were days we thought we were going to lose her. It was definitely a rollercoaster process the first few months,” she said.

But Lindi was able to pull through with help from doctors and nurses. Because of developmental delays, Lindi has seen physical, occupational and speech therapists as she’s gotten older. Her parents say they have seen major improvements just this year.

“First two years was technically like having a newborn for two years. Once she was able to get out of the pack and play and the crib, it has not stopped. Once she finally learned she could walk and talk it was game over,” she said.

They say thanks to the staff at CHOG, Lindi is a happy 2-year-old.

“Because of the advanced technology and the advanced research and transportation methods, we were able to keep our child alive. Anything that’s possible for any girl her age is possible for her,” she said.

Children’s Hospital of Georgia relies heavily on from the community to help make these miracles possible. To donate, visit https://www.augustahealth.org/give/miraclemonday or call 706-721-4004.

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