Woman Safely Delivers Baby at Mansfield Hospital at 24 Weeks, Thanks Mansfield and Shelby Hospitals for Quick Actions
Brittany Gipson smiles as she talks about her now 9-month-old baby and the progress he's made.
Jaxson Gipson is a small, but healthy boy, now gaining weight at an impressive pace with the help of a feeding tube, but it was a long battle to get here.
At just 24 weeks pregnant, Gipson experienced a terrifying scare.
“She called me and I just answered normally and she was like, ‘Mom!!,'” said Brandi Jacobs, Brittany's mom. “Well I knew, you know your kids voice, so right then I’m like, ‘What’s wrong?!!’”
Brittany called her mom and told her she was bleeding badly. She had Placenta Previa, a condition where the placenta covers the opening of the uterus, and was told if she ever started bleeding, she needed to get to the hospital immediately.
The Shelby Fire Department showed up minutes later.
“Typically, with emergent calls like that, our preference is to go directly to Mansfield, to a trauma center where a hospital is more capable of handling situations like that," said Calvin Redden, a firefighter with the Shelby Fire Department. "But given the situation, the priority was to get to a hospital period as fast as we could.”
Gipson ended up getting multiple blood transfusions at OhioHealth Shelby Hospital to stabilize her.
Doctors wanted to get her to a hospital with the highest level of care for high-risk pregnancies, but with rough weather, they weren't able to fly her.
That's when the team made the decision to get her to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital. With the Shelby rescue squad still waiting outside, they were able to get her there in record time.
“As soon as I got to Mansfield, they had the baby out in ten minutes,” said Gipson.
A team of physicians, including a Nationwide Children's Hospital Pediatric Hospitalist, were waiting for Gipson and delivered her baby safely.
“I'm like at this point, ‘did the baby even make it?’" said Jacobs. “And she said, ‘he did!’ And at that point, tears were flowing.”
Jaxson was born less than 13 inches long and one pound 11 ounces.
What followed was some time in the ICU for Brittany and months in the NICU for baby Jaxson. He was put on a ventilator, a CPAP, and now an oxygen and feeding tube.
Nine months later, he's making incredible progress, and if it weren't for the coordination between Mansfield and Shelby Hospitals and local first responders, and the team at Mansfield prepped and ready for Gipson, things may turned out differently.
“I’m very thankful for them and their fast actions,” said Jacobs.
Brittany's thankful, too. She looks forward to a lifetime of memories ahead with her little miracle.
