On the afternoon of Sunday, 04/05/2020, My wife Sara, our son Harrison (two years old), and I were at home about two weeks after the pandemic lockdown started. Sara was 7 months pregnant and lying down due to not feeling well. In trip to the restroom, Sara saw a tremendous amount of blood, and we knew something was wrong.

I tried calling her doctor but with no luck on a Sunday afternoon. I then called 911, and about 8 minutes later, paramedics arrived. After evaluating her, it was determined that she needed to go to the hospital (St. Rose Siena) ASAP. I wasn’t able to follow her right away since I had my son with me, and they wouldn’t allow him in the hospital due to COVID precautions.

As I ran out the front door to drive to the hospital, I got a call from the Labor and Delivery Charge Nurse, Kim, who told me I needed to get down there immediately. She had experienced a placental abruption and was going into surgery for an emergency C-section in a matter of minutes. I raced there, ignoring stop lights, and made it up there just as they were wheeling her out of the pre-op room. She was very scared, of course, and I was able to give her a kiss and tell her it was all going to be okay.

I couldn’t be in the OR but Kim, sensing my own fear, took me into the adjacent room and showed me that if I put my ear up to the wall, I could listen in to the next room where she was. Kim then rushed into the OR. It was like listening to a seashell; muffled, but it gave me an idea of what was happening. After a couple of minutes, I was able to hear our new son’s cry. Kim ran back in and told me that Sara was ok, and that the baby was ok. She then held me and I broke down sobbing, finally able to let my emotions catch up with me.

The surgeon who performed the Cesarian saw me in the lobby when I was calling family to update them. He told me she lost a quarter of her blood in a very short period of time and that if she hadn’t arrived at the hospital when she did, both she and the baby wouldn’t have made it. The quick work of the L&D nursing team saved my family’s lives. I came within five minutes of being a single father.

We named our son Lucais, and he was in the NICU fighting for a few weeks since he was delivered two months prematurely. Almost a month later, we were able to take him home. Nearly five years later, he’s a healthy, funny, exceptionally kind, wonderful little guy and we owe it all to the fast actions of the EMTs and everyone at St Rose Siena.