Jessica’s Story
I had both of my daughters at BGH. Isabella was delivered by Dr. Honsinger, the same doctor who delivered my little sister 16 years earlier. My younger daughter, Etta, was delivered in the same room.
Etta’s labor and delivery went smoothly. She was born apparently healthy. Three or four hours after her birth, the nurse came in to check on her. Phyllis. I’ll never forget Phyllis. She calmly started doing tests that I’d not seen done with my older daughter. Cool as a cucumber, Phyllis took my baby, put her on oxygen and called the doctor. Etta was born with transient tachypnea; basically, her lungs were still trying to breathe fluid. Her oxygen levels were in the low 80s, and she was suffocating.
Etta spent three days in the hospital nursery on oxygen. Had we been at home, she would have had permanent brain damage. The maternity ward — Phyllis, especially — saved my baby.
—Jessica
BGH Birth Stories