Expecting the very unexpected

One in 10 babies in the United States is born prematurely – before 37 weeks gestation, according to the March of Dimes. But thanks to advanced, lifesaving care, education and technology, even babies born very prematurely who would otherwise not survive outside of the womb, are more likely to survive today than ever before.

It was a busy, fast-paced life for Emily and Nate Louden who have four children ranging from 11 to three. But it was their fifth child, Ezekiel, who stopped them in their tracks and came as a surprise. With a normal pregnancy, Emily was given a due date of April 6, 2018. Like most, her pregnancy was similar to the others – including the nausea.

However, it was January 23, 2018 that Emily found herself ill after caring for a sick husband and four sick children. It wasn’t ideal, but as a natural caregiver, Emily tried her best to tend to everyone. Yet, while all of this was happening, she was not entirely mindful to the fact that she was experiencing contractions – which can be alarming at only 29-weeks. She contacted her physician, Dr. Win Boon, Parkview Physicians Group (PPG) – Neonatology, who suggested she monitor the contractions until she was having at least four in a one-hour time span. The Loudens headed to the hospital shortly after her phone call to Dr. Boon.

An entirely new experience

Since two of the Louden’s children were born early at 35-weeks, Dr. Boon had previously suggested Emily receive progesterone shots to avoid another early delivery. And even though she was given these shots, Nate and Emily would soon have their first encounter with Parkview’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

It was 8 p.m. on January 23rd and the winter sky was black – except for the lights illuminating from Parkview Health.

Parkview Regional Medical Center (PRMC) was unfamiliar for the family who had already encountered four births elsewhere. The entrance to the Women’s & Children’s Family Birthing Center felt large and new to them. With different sights, sounds, and faces – they were ready for the unexpected.

Already dilated to four centimeters, nurses and Dr. Boon were trying to stop the contractions with tocolytic medications to prevent potential health problems for both Emily and Zeke. Since Emily was only 29-weeks into her pregnancy, she and Nate were concerned but felt a sense of comfort with the Parkview team. Zeke – Ezekiel Louden – was born at 12:36 a.m. on January 24, 2018 at 4 lbs.  

Emily recalls that it was a very short timeframe – from not believing she was in labor to giving birth to Zeke.

“Dr. Boon was on call and could not have been a more perfect, calming doctor to have in that situation. He was very informational and right off the bat we felt like everything was going to be fine and that Zeke would be taken care of. I had peace that he was going to be OK and that carried us through his time in the NICU. It’s almost unexplainable how peaceful I felt about it all,” Emily conveyed.

Worst fear and greatest love

Zeke was immediately rushed to the NICU. Emily, now a beaming mother of five, only got a quick glance at her fragile child until she recovered a few hours later and was able to go see Zeke with her husband Nate. The most heart-breaking part, the doting parents didn’t get to hold him for six days. This was another entirely new experience for the Loudens.

It’s all unfamiliar to parents – the bright lights, the continuous beeping of machines disrupted with the generated tone of alarms, the rhythmic hum of the ventilator supplying oxygen – this is NICU, where a parent’s worst fear and greatest love can be found in the same place.

The halls provide multiple rooms with parents and incubators holding the most fragile of human life. Although each room has different sets of machines and noises, the hallways are mostly silent. Amid the additional voices of nurses, therapists, and physicians, are cries so small they are hardly audible.

The Louden family was given an estimate of how long Zeke would be in the NICU and they were told it would be at least until his original April due date. While the Loudens lived close, they couldn’t help but wonder how they would be there for Zeke and still care for their four other children.

Their time at NICU began with seven weeks at Parkview before being transferred to Riley Children’s Health for three and a half weeks. There, they tried to determine whether Zeke was born with a smaller lower jaw, a condition called micrognathia that may interfere with a child's feeding and breathing. Emily and Nate noticed Zeke was having a difficult time weening off the oxygen, which could have been a result of the micrognathia. However, as it turned out, Zeke had chronic lung disease, a common condition in premature babies. This was ultimately the reason they were not able to remove Zeke from the oxygen as soon as they hoped.

Feeling at home

Being transferred back to Parkview for another six weeks after Riley was tiring, but refreshing for the Loudens. They were happy to be home and see the familiar faces of the nursing staff and physicians   they had come to know and love – it was an added sense of security.

“The Parkview nursing staff have become a part of our family. I consider one of the nurses from Zeke’s first day my best friend and we regularly get together for dinner and we attended her wedding. I really felt like the NICU staff cared not only for Zeke but for our entire family. I even see that now as a volunteer for Parkview’s NICU as my way to give back and be available to those families who are going through the same thing. The nurses and physicians genuinely care for these babies and the families,” said Emily.

It was around this time that a rise in influenza cases was leading Parkview Health to enforce broader visitor restrictions. The Louden family members were not allowed to see Zeke with the exception of Emily and Nate. For them, they relied heavily on support from the staff with whom they had grew extremely close.

Thankfully, this team of nurses and physicians were there when the scariest news came in. Zeke, at just a little over two weeks old – had necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). NEC is an inflammation in the intestines and usually occurs in premature babies. The damage that NEC causes to the intestinal tissues can result in a hole that allows bacteria to leak out into the abdomen and cause infection. The intestinal immaturity is the initial susceptibility to this disease for preemies. However, thanks to Dr. Melissa Rice, PPG – Neonatology, the NEC was caught early and treated right away with antibiotics to avoid emergency surgery.

From beginning to end – the NEC diagnoses, the trips to and from Parkview, the discovery of chronic lung disease – Zeke’s hospital stay lasted 116 days. One-hundred sixteen days of worry, exhaustion, and hope – almost four months later Zeke finally left Parkview’s NICU on May 20, 2018. His stay was much longer than anyone could have expected.

So small but such a fighter, this little boy has completed his family and brought them closer together. Thanks to speech therapists in addition to nurses and physicians, Zeke went home without feeding tubes or oxygen, despite what the doctors first diagnosed during his initial visit to the NICU.

Seeing the positive and staying ahead

Today, Zeke is doing fantastic and the family is well adjusted. Now at a year-and-a-half old, Zeke has physical therapy once a week, occupational therapy every other week and speech therapy once a month. This regimen was a definite improvement from when they initially left the NICU and had to see each of those therapists on a weekly basis. Zeke continues to improve with the support of his loving family and caring Parkview team.

Emily recalls that her family and children really stepped up to help around the house. Zeke’s siblings loved having their brother come home considering they did not get to meet him until he was 10-weeks old due to the flu visitation restrictions. 

These restrictions and other precautions allow Parkview to uphold the highest level of care possible. Yet there is always room for extra attentiveness and measures in protecting Parkview’s most vulnerable patients. You can help ensure that protection through the Parkview Foundations by supporting NICU this GivingTuesday. Parkview Health’s only NICU, serving several communities and thousands of people in northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio, is providing a future and working to decrease Indiana’s high infant mortality rate.

 “I always tell people that for a bad experience, it was actually a really wonderful experience. We met wonderful people, we grew closer together as a family, we learned new things, it gave me the opportunity to volunteer, and it was a good experience for us overall. This is all part of Zeke’s journey,” Emily shared.

Through your generosity, you can help protect Parkview Health’s smallest patients in several communities and invest in the future of preemies like Zeke. This GivingTuesday, help give NICU patients and their families a fighting chance and provide that special care where it matters most.

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