145 Days in Munson Medical Center’s NICU: Rayden’s Story

Six months into her pregnancy, Melinda Eastman suddenly got ill — so ill that she went to Cadillac Hospital Urgent Care.

“It kind of came on like a strike of lightning,” said Eastman, whose pregnancy up until that point had been uneventful. “It was pretty scary.”

Eastman was then sent to the hospital’s emergency department for evaluation. Fairly quickly, doctors determined she needed to be taken by ambulance to Munson Medical Center for additional care.

After arriving, Eastman learned she had HELLP Syndrome, a series of symptoms including hemolysis (breakdown of red blood cells), elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet counts which affects a small percentage of pregnancies. As a result, she needed to deliver her son Rayden immediately by cesarean section.

Rayden, who was born 13 weeks early, weighing just 2 pounds, would spend the next five months in MMC’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Eastman and her husband, Jeremiah, spent as much time with their son as possible. Being able to stay close to the hospital at Munson Manor Hospitality House, and knowing Rayden was in loving hands in the NICU helped tremendously during this challenging time, Eastman said.

When the couple learned Rayden would need hernia surgery, they felt confident in the care their son would receive and relieved that the surgery could take place at MMC. “He got to stay here with his primary care nurses,” she said. “And knowing that the surgeon specializes in this procedure and could do it here — it meant a lot.”

Health Care Team Performs First Infant Hernia Surgery at MMC

Rayden’s hernia surgery marked a first for MMC, which is beginning to offer additional neonatal services to more babies, said Lisa Allred, MD, one of two on-staff neonatologists who were part of Rayden’s care team.

Hernia surgery, which is a fairly common procedure for premature babies, is typically done at either Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital or University of Michigan Hospital. However, a partnership with pediatric urologist Kirstan Meldrum, MD, of Covenant Hospital in Saginaw made the procedure possible in Traverse City.

The surgeon, anesthesiologists, physicians, nurses, and pharmacists worked hard to ensure the procedure was a success. This involved hours of planning, including a night before the “surgery walk-through.”

Being transparent with the Eastman’s and letting them know this would be a first for MMC was also important, Dr. Allred said, because having their full support was essential.

“They told us, ‘We trust the team. You know him. You’ve cared for him since he was at his sickest and we want him to stay here.’ For us, that was really a motivator to do this and do it right,” Dr. Allred said.

And the team did. Rayden’s surgery was a success and a second successful infant hernia surgery took place earlier this year.

Inside Our NICU and Pediatric Services

MMC’s NICU is the only one in northern Michigan, serving 21 counties across the Munson Healthcare region.

The Health Care Team consists of board-certified neonatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, and specially-trained neonatal nurses for NICU services. In addition, we have board-certified pediatric specialists, pediatric nurses, and child life specialists to continue care for our littlest patients.

Taking a more family-integrated approach to care is the future of our neonatal and pediatric programs, Dr. Allred said. “We know developmental outcomes are much better when parents are involved. So, our new model is going to be family integrated care, where parents are active members of the care team at the bedside. They’re doing the care themselves and they know their baby better than anyone else. You can’t do that if you have a baby displaced from the community hundreds of miles away.”

Dr. Allred said she is proud of what MMC is providing, and will provide with the new Family Birth and Children’s Center. For the Eastman family, having spent months in the NICU with Rayden, the unit’s current tight quarters made a stressful situation even more challenging. In the new center, however, private rooms will provide a much-improved experience for NICU patients and their families.

“We’re bringing in the support, equipment, and skills we need to provide better care for more babies up here, which is awesome. We do know there are going to be rare circumstances where we have to rely on our colleagues downstate who provide us specialty services,” she said. “But for the most part, anything baby needs — a sick newborn or premature infant — we want to be able to provide here. And we want to be able to provide it in a very personal way that keeps that family completely involved in their baby’s care. I’m excited. I love, love, love being here. We are growing and we are serving northern Michigan. We owe it to our families and our communities — to be able to provide these services — and I know we can do it well.