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Families feel at home at the new complex care area
Soon after first-time mother Hayley Montgomery woke up at a local hospital following an emergency
C-section, her husband, Brett, walked in with a brown, hand-sized teddy bear.
“That’s about how big he is,” says Brett, trying to prepare her for their son, Ryder. He was born weighing only
1.65 pounds.
The hospital where Hayley delivered was not far from their home in Redondo Beach. However, the facility wasn’t equipped to care for Ryder as he fought for his life.
“I asked the nurse, ‘If it was your baby, what would you do?’ She spoke from the heart and confirmed that Ryder’s best chance for survival would be at
Miller Children’s & Women's Hospital Long Beach,” says Hayley. “I knew that’s where my baby needed
to be.”
Miller Children’s is one of only 22 hospitals in California equipped with a Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the highest designation available. As one of the largest NICUs in the state of California,
Miller Children’s cares for more than 1,000 newborns each year with referrals from more than 20
area hospitals.
Since her first trimester until Ryder’s birth, the 26-year-old new mom was told her son had a high risk of having severe disabilities.
“From the very beginning, I was told that my baby might not survive. I was very scared and overwhelmed my entire pregnancy,” says Hayley. “That all changed the second we were in the
Miller Children’s NICU. We went from chaos and uncertainty to calming reassurances. I knew my little guy was a fighter. Miller Children’s was the perfect place for Ryder to receive all of the care he needed.”
In January 2013, the NICU at Miller Children’s opened a dedicated complex care area in its new inpatient pavilion. On any given day, about 60 high-risk babies receive expert attention and extended care in this state-of-the-art fully equipped facility. For the Montgomery family, the center became their second home for the foreseeable future.
“Being born 14 weeks early, Ryder’s organ systems were not fully developed,” explains Penny Jacinto, M.D., neonatologist, Miller Children’s. “The Complex Care Center was designed for Ryder and newborns like him, who need an immediate response from multiple specialists for multiple problems.”
Ryder was born on February 27 and remained at Miller Children’s until July 12. At first, he was too fragile to be held or touched. Taking one day at a time, Hayley stayed close. She read to him every day in
his incubator.
“Even though he was connected to machines that helped him breathe and monitored his vital signs, Ryder was very feisty. He was always kicking his legs when they were trying to contain him,” says Hayley. “The respiratory therapist told us Ryder would show us when he was ready for the next step. Sure enough, before we took him off the ventilator, he’d begun taking the tube out of his nose
to breathe on his own.”
In the complex care area, the patient and family are at the core of every care plan. A multi-disciplinary team of physicians, nurses, and support staff are housed in one centralized location to help establish a much-needed consistency of care for families during their extended stay.
Maria Abrantes, M.D., neonatologist, Miller Children’s, adds, “Ryder was with us for over four months. We realize the anxiety all parents feel during times like this. Our commitment is to alleviate these fears as much as possible by making parents extensions of our care team. We make daily rounds together and sit down every other week – care team and family – to set goals to overcome every obstacle.”
Once Ryder reached two pounds, he continued to grow and reach critical milestones. His heart rate would rise when his parents talked to him. Hayley remembers the first time they opened the top of his incubator.
“I kissed him and cried for an hour afterwards. I will never forget that moment,” she says.
Today, the 9-month-old baby with the blond curl on top of his head, chubby cheeks, long curly lashes and a big toothless grin bares little resemblance to the baby who first came to Miller Children’s last year.
“You would never know Ryder was a preemie. Never,” says Hayley. “The outstanding care he received is the reason our son is alive today. Miller Children’s will forever hold a very special place because they
are family. ”
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