Medical team goes the extra mile to deliver baby at 30 weeks during winter storm

A young couple’s first child arrived at 30 weeks in the midst of a debilitating winter storm, and survived — thanks to the bravery, perseverance, and skill of medical professionals.

Key Takeaways:

• Danielle Hayes was taken to VCU Health Community Memorial hospital at 30 weeks gestation.

• She was diagnosed with placenta previa.

• Initially, she was meant to be admitted a week later at 31 weeks, but came early due to bleeding.

• Being so premature, the baby was initially meant to be taken by ambulance to a hospital an hour away, but a winter storm made that impossible, so staff mobilized to care for both mom and baby.

The Details:

As Winter Storm Fern ravaged rural South Hill, Virginia, Danielle Hayes rushed to VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital (CMH), bleeding and worried at only 30 weeks pregnant.

Hayes had initially been scheduled for hospital monitoring at 31 weeks of pregnancy after being diagnosed with placenta previa, a condition where the placenta blocks the cervical opening. It can cause considerable bleeding during the latter stages of pregnancy.

At the hospital, Hayes was admitted and prepared for an emergency Caesarean section (C-section), Yahoo News reported. 

“At the time, they told us a transfer wasn't possible right away because of the storm, but that they could stabilize him and take care of him,” Hayes said. “When they explained that an ambulance would be coming the next day to transport him, I felt comfortable with that, and that he would be safe.” 

However, because Winter Storm Fern was impacting the region and Hayes went into premature labor, medical teams from across VCU Health quickly jumped into action, “providing a level of care that would ensure baby Kamyrn had the best chance at a healthy outcome."

Zoom in:

With the storm making both ground and air neonatal transport too hazardous, medical teams in South Hill and at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU (CHoR), situated about an hour apart, resorted to virtual coordination.

Labor and delivery staff in South Hill, working at Danielle’s side, cooperated closely with neonatal specialists in Richmond, an effort that eventually enabled baby Kamyrn to survive the premature birth and thrive.

“We've dealt with other premature babies before. Usually when they're born, we get them up to Richmond within a couple of hours. This was different, in that we wanted to keep the baby here and do more than just stabilize,” Ahmad Ali, M.D., the physician overseeing Hayes’ case at that time, said. 

Additionally, as the storm intensified that evening, Monica Brakefield, a neonatal nurse practitioner from CHoR’s Level 4 NICU, stepped forward to provide assistance. Living close by, she procured special clearance from her supervisors to travel to South Hill, where she helped guarantee steady and specialized care for Kamyrn until conditions got better. 

“A drive that would normally take an hour and twenty minutes took two hours, but nothing fell from the sky during that time,” Brakefield said. “Mary Hardin, chief nursing officer at CMH, was waiting for me at the door after I parked. And when she walked me onto the unit, it felt like everybody kind of just exhaled. His vital signs were stable, and he was doing well. But the CMH team was awesome. That's really all I can tell you, is they went above and beyond what they're trained to do. It could not have gone any smoother than it did.”  

When dawn broke, CHoR’s neonatal transport team was able to safely transport Kamyrn from South Hill to its Level 4 NICU in Richmond for continued specialized treatment. After accompanying Kamyrn all night, Brakefield handed over his care to the transport nurse who was with him on the journey back to Richmond.

"Kamyrn’s first moments of life were witnessed by a team, including myself, that had come together across departments and campuses,” Jennifer Hargrave, RN, a labor and delivery nurse at CMH, said.  “Even in the middle of a winter storm, everyone was focused on one thing — providing the best possible care for this family.” 

The Bottom Line:

At first glance, Kamyrn’s birth is a human‑interest story about a family, a snowstorm, and a courageous and resourceful medical team. At a deeper level, it reveals how hospital staff treated him as a patient in his own right, relying on existing resources and whatever modern medicine available to protect Kamyrn’s fragile life at just 30 weeks — the same age at which some states allow abortion.

Overall, this case also shows that an integrated health system for rural communities, facilitating smooth access to advanced expertise while still depending on the skill and support of local medical teams, is critical.