Most precious gift: Out-of-state family spends holidays in Charlotte NICU after premature birth
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — There is a three-hour drive between Virginia, where Allison Tice and Dustin Pence had planned to give birth to their son Cohen, and Charlotte where he was ultimately born.
Cohen was born on Nov. 30 at Novant Health’s Presbyterian Medical Center almost 10 weeks before his original due date.
Queen City News spoke with Cohen’s parents six weeks after his birth.
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“We still should be pregnant right now, but we’re not,” Tice explained. “I think it’s also just kind of been a surreal experience knowing that he is here.”
Before they arrived at the hospital in Charlotte, the Virginia couple had spent Thanksgiving with family in Hickory.
That’s when Tice noticed she had begun to experience some issues with her blood pressure.
She said she began to experience difficult headaches and had noticed her face and feet had swollen.
“I learned very quickly that I had some of the tale-tell signs of preeclampsia,” she explained.
Then, it was my dad’s girlfriend who, also had preeclampsia, who told me I should go get checked out.”
Within a week the expecting mother found herself at the Charlotte hospital where he would undergo emergency surgery to save her child.
“The last thing I remember the doctor telling me in the room was, ‘You were a lot sicker than we thought,’” Tice said.
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Cohen’s lungs were not fully developed when he was born, which is why he spent the next several weeks hooked up to machines to help him breathe.
During this time his mother remained by his side as often as he could, while father drove back and forth (three hours one way) between his newborn’s bedside, and to his other two children back home.
“You just go into dad mode to make sure everything is okay,” Pence said. “You just tough it out and do what you need to do.”
Cohen would spend a mountain of firsts in the Hemby NICU, which included his first Christmas morning, and his first New Year’s celebration.
The NICU staff stepped in to preserve these moments, created a stocking for Cohen, and put presents under his bed for Christmas Day.
Tice said it was not how they envisioned it would be.
“It’s sweet firsts, but not how we expected it,” she explained. “I mean, we were still expecting to be celebrating and planning his pregnancy.”
NICU Nurse Manager Phyllis Waddell said, in her four decades on the job, these moments are always precious.
“Trying to get some normalcy in a very abnormal place and in an abnormal situation,” she said. “It’s so important.”
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Friday, after more than a month in the NICU, Cohen was flown to a hospital at home in Roanoke, Va.
As of Monday, Cohen is breathing on his own.
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