HereCare – Jewell & Jaxon’s Story

When Jewell learned she was pregnant with her third child, she began seeing Maternal Fetal Medicine specialists at Ascension Seton Hays. Jewell and her physicians knew that this pregnancy was high-risk after Jewell’s two older children – Tre (5) and Maddie (4) – had been born prematurely.

Because Jewell had preeclampsia with her first son, her physicians were prepared and watched for preeclampsia with her third child and second son. There were three instances of blood pressure spikes that sent Jewell to the hospital for monitoring.

Jewell didn’t experience the same symptoms she’d had with her first son, but she did have a headache that would not go away. Jewell was admitted to the hospital and for two days, her caregivers tried a variety of medications to make her headache go away but nothing worked.

On Thanksgiving Day, Jewell had an MRI that showed fluid in her brain from the preeclampsia everyone had been expecting and watching for. At that point, her doctor decided she needed to have an emergency C-section. Jewell says of her delivery experience that “they really went above and beyond to make sure I had an incredible experience and that I got the experiences I wanted as a mom, like skin-to-skin. Even though it was an emergency, out of all three births, this was the most calming one.”

Her son, Jaxon, was taken to the NICU where he would stay for the next four and a half weeks.

Jaxon and Jewell were very lucky – a NICU bed had opened up that day so Jaxon was able to stay at the Ascension Seton Hays NICU. Jewell’s two older children had also required NICU stays and her daughter, Maddie, had been transferred to a different hospital, which was incredibly hard on Jewell who didn’t get to see or hold her daughter for 24 hours.

Jaxon only weighed three pounds, twelve ounces when he was born. He needed help with feeding and had a feeding tube for three weeks until he learned how to eat and keep food down. He also struggled to maintain his body weight and temperature, but the Ascension Seton Hays NICU helped Jaxon grow and develop.

Jewell visited Jaxon in the NICU every day and spoke with Jaxon’s nurses in between visits. “The nurses would call me every shift change, which is not something I experienced at any other hospital.”

Jaxon, now 2, is doing exceptionally well. Jewell still keeps in touch with nurses from the Ascension Seton Hays NICU and encourages all NICU parents to “build those relationships early on. It makes it a lot calmer to know who’s caring for your baby.”