DYER – Kayla Harper knew her baby was going to be delivered a little earlier than her Aug. 30 due date, but she didn’t expect her to be born a month early and on her birthday.
Harper, 23, of Hammond, was diagnosed with placenta previa, a condition in which the placenta covers the cervix, in March after going to the Franciscan Health Dyer emergency room with bleeding.
“I was a little concerned but they said it could possibly go away closer to the end of the pregnancy,” the first-time mom said. “I was worried about the baby.”
Doctors monitored her condition and told her what to watch for.
“At 2 a.m. on July 4, I started having a major bleed,” Harper said. “I went to the hospital and stayed two days. The nurses made sure I was OK, assured me I was fine, that the contractions were OK. They gave me a steroid to make sure the baby’s lungs were fully functioning.”
She went home once she was stable but she experienced another bleed on July 29, the day before her birthday.
“They said let’s wait overnight and see if we can calm it down and if not, they would induce,” she said. “July 30 came and I thought they’d send me home for my birthday and they said no, we’re going to give you a C section.”
The C section went well and baby Lezlie Lovetta Collins was born at 12:01 p.m. on her Mom’s birthday, weighing 5 pounds 5 ounces and measuring 18 inches long.
“I knew to expect the baby to go to the (neonatal intensive care unit or NICU) if anything was wrong,” Harper said. “She wasn’t fully breathing when she was born. I saw her for a second, they brought her by the drape by my head, then they took her to the NICU.”
Harper said the NICU staff at Franciscan Health Dyer was, “amazing.”
“Everyone greeted me and said she was so beautiful, was so welcoming,” Harper said. “They were all really supportive, made sure I had everything I needed. They are a very good team.”
Harper was discharged before her baby, who stayed in the NICU for six days.
“I didn’t want to go home and leave her,” Harper said.
She said AngelEye technology, which was introduced in the Franciscan Health Dyer NICU earlier this year, helped ease her worries. AngelEye cameras allow parents and family members to log in to a secure system to see their babies via live-stream video. The system eases the stress of being away from the baby and provides peace of mind for the family.
“I was using it the whole time I was there and when I got home,” Harper said. “The video was really clear. I could see everything she was doing. It was comforting. I was worried about her but because I could see her, it helped and I knew she was in good care.”
AngelEye is now available locally in the NICUs at Franciscan Health Crown Point, Dyer and the Level II + Nursery with Extended Capabilities at Olympia Fields, as well as the NICUs at Franciscan Health Lafayette and Indianapolis.
Baby Lezlie went home on Aug. 5 and is thriving.
“I would definitely recommend going through Franciscan Health Dyer to anyone, above any other hospital,” Harper said.
More information about the Franciscan Health Family Birth Center Dyer and its NICU is available online or by calling (219) 515-3993.
Caption: Baby Lezlie Lovetta Collins was born one month early at 12:01 p.m. on her Mom Kayla Harper’s birthday, weighing 5 pounds 5 ounces and measuring 18 inches long. (Provided photo)
