|
Free Weekly News. Sign Up!
|
|
 Premature Baby's Parents Call Her a Miracle
By: Steve Nicoles, Reporter for KCRG.com
Story Updated: Dec 14, 2007
IOWA CITY - The parents of a baby born prematurely during an ice storm talk about the moments following the birth. Dorotea entered the world Tuesday. That is the day she was born, three months early. The story of how doctors saved the baby's life by venturing out into Iowa's woeful winter weather made national headlines.
The situation surrounding Dorotea's birth could make a made-for-TV movie. Labor starts and mom and dad are eight hours apart. Ice is pounding the pavement. A miraculous rescue. And finally the family is together again.
If you do not believe in miracles, look at 3-day-old Dorotea. Her feet are half the size of an adult finger. She weighs two pounds. She was born three months early. Her mother, Janel Orgovanyi said, “I was in pain, but didn't know I was in labor. No one knew i was in labor the entire time."
Orgovanyi's doctor would not come to the Henry County Hospital Monday night. Not with Mother Nature unleashing a furious ice storm on the Midwest. The weather also kept emergency crews from flying or driving south to help the baby when the smaller hospital could not. Orgovanyi said, “They told me an ambulance or air transport, one or the other was on the way and each time one couldn't come they said the other was coming."
The weather could not keep Dorotea's father away even though he was working in another time zone. Gador Orgovanyi said, “As soon as we hit St. Louis just ice and rain and slippery roads."
Nor could the weather slow two doctors from the University of Iowa's hospital. They drove to Mount Pleasant to give Dorotea a drug to help her breathe. When the weather cleared, a Henry County ambulance brought the doctors and baby back to Iowa City. Gador said, “Without them she would not be here, she'd not be here and i can't find the words to express my gratitude for what they did."
After three days, Dorotea's hospital room is starting to feel a little like home. Her godmother, Raina Clement, drew pictures and put them on the door. Clement was born 30 years ago with a hole in her heart in a Midwest ice storm. Janel said, “My sister wasn't supposed to live through the night. She died on the table three times. She's still going."
Because her sister survived Janel knows her daughter will too. Dorotea has some bleeding in her brain. Her father was told that is common for preemies. She likely will be in the hospital until March, when she was supposed to be born. The family is going to stay in Iowa City as much as they can.
Email Steve Nicoles at Steve.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
No one has commented on this article. |
|
|
Candle Lighting Times