A #NICUAwareness Month Story: Liam Campbell

Liam is the caboose in our family. We felt after waiting awhile due to two of his brothers having Autism that it was time to finish our family. We were excited to add one more to our family and it was going easily until I found out that I had Gestational Diabetes. I really worked hard to keep it under control and even lost quite a bit a weight while being pregnant. I was doing well so I thought it was okay for me to go on our traditional big summer vacation and I had the approval of my doctor and midwife. I was 30 weeks and our family went from Idaho to New York City. The next day after traveling by plane my legs were swollen and I worried about blood clots. They seemed to get better at times so I chalked it up to being due to the hot weather of July and travel. It never fully went away but it thought it was just due to traveling and the hot weather while being pregnant. We went down to Pennsylvania after spending some day in New York City.

I started getting really sick while in Philadelphia. I was sick to my stomach and I had horrible pains in the upper right side of my abdomen. I remembered having water retention in my legs when I was pregnant with my first son which was mild Preeclampsia. I tried to find a blood pressure machine to check if I had high blood pressure but couldn't find one. I continued feeling so sick that I decided I needed to go to the ER. I went to Thomas Jefferson Hospital ER and soon found out that I had severe Preeclampsia. The doctor told me that I was not allowed to leave the hospital until I got my blood pressure down and that I would be put on magnesium to prevent any seizures. My blood pressure refused to go down with medication, so they decided to take Liam out by emergency C-Section at 31 weeks 3 days. I was so scared and wished I could be home. The C-Section went well but it was hard not having family or friends around. I needed a blood transfusion and Liam needed oxygen quickly after birth due to his immature lungs. Liam was 3 lbs. 8.6 oz. at birth. Long story short he had to stay at hospital in Philadelphia for about a month and then was life flighted back to Idaho where he stayed for about another month. He has had no major health problems since leaving the hospital. He turned one year old on July 24th of this year and is working on crawling, sitting for long periods, and eating regular food. He has some delays but I'm so proud of what he has done with the hard start he had. I'm so grateful for the hospitals, Ronald McDonald houses, and social workers that took care of him and I. I say social workers because we had a social worker that helped us get back home. I was told by our life flight crew that it was the farthest trip they have ever done.” – Alicia Campbell