Christmas Miracle: Mom gives birth en route to hospital

BY ROBERT L. BAKER

Katelyn Smith and Corey Wilson of Springville got a Christmas miracle three weeks early this year.

Wilson was driving down Route 29, south of Tunkhannock, last Tuesday (Dec. 6) when his girlfriend who had been clutching his right shoulder pretty vigorously let out a big scream.

The couple was expecting a baby on March 22, but, it seems, Charlee Wilson couldn’t wait.

The one-pound 15 ounce baby arrived around6:30 a.m.whileWilsondrove past the Roadside Rest that was already boarded up and closed for the season.

So,Wilson pulled over at the next available parking lot in front of Lorbeez Citgo Gas Station nearEvansFallsand called9-1-1.

Within minutes Community Life Support was there with a backup by Tunkhannock Community Ambulance.

Charlee was three months premature, and the emergency medical technicians knew they didn’t have a moment to spare, Smith recalled Saturday afternoon.

“They (the EMTs) were just great,” Smith said. “They seemed calm rushing to get the excess fluids out of the baby’s nose and mouth and cut the umbilical cord, and off they went by ambulance.”

Next up was mom, who was treated at the scene and then transported by another ambulance toGeisingerWyomingValleyHospital.

Smith was released at5 p.m., but before she left, baby Charlee was taken aboutnoonto Geisinger Hospital Danville where she has remained in an incubator.

Smith has been staying at the Ronald McDonald House across the street from the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville and said Saturday she has been having about four visits a day with her baby, when she gets to sit in a recliner and have the baby lay down on her chest.

“She’s doing absolutely amazing,” Smith said, “and the feeling it gives me to hold her, I can’t explain.”

“On Friday, they let me change her diaper, and I was just ecstatic,” Smith said.

She described Charlee as 14 inches long and a little bit bigger than a Barbie doll.

However, she noted that no doll ever gave her the joy that this baby has.

Wilson, who is a 20-year-old diesel mechanic at John’s Truck Service in Meshoppen, said he has not held the baby yet, and admitted Saturday inDanville, “Holding her just makes me nervous. She seems too small to handle. I’ll feel much better when she’s a little bigger.”

Wayne and Sue Wilson stopped by inDanvilleto visit their first great grandbaby, who was named after their son Charles – Corey’s dad – who died last March.

They were amazed at how everything unfolded and expressed doubt that a pair of 20-year-olds could have handled themselves as well as Corey and Katelyn.

Sue said she also was impressed at how active Charlee appears to be, kicking and swinging her arms a lot.

Despite her being on the small side, dad acknowledged, “She’s perfect. We wanted a girl.”

As for the preemie baby’s prognosis, Smith said the doctors inDanvillehave had only great things to say about their baby particularly for its size.

“On Friday, Charlee’s temperature was a little on the low side of normal, and that concerned me,” Smith said, “but she’s in great hands here. I completely trust them. They’re amazing.”

Universityof Iowamedical researcher Dr. Edward Bell who maintains an online tiniest babies registry at www.healthcare.uiowa.edu/tiniestbabies said Monday afternoon that there are about 23,000 U.S. babies born each year between 500 and 1,000 grams (or between just a little over one pound to just a little over two pounds) and the survival rate is about 65 percent.

He said, “Of course, we have no figures for babies this size born in the car on the way  to the hospital.”

But Edwards noted anecdotally he knew of at least one baby born under similar circumstances who was about the same weight as Charlee, “and she is now a healthy teenager.”

Smith said the doctors atDanvilletold her that Charlee could breathe on her own soon but will remain atDanvilleunder observation until she gets to weigh three pounds.

When that happens, Charlee will go back toGeisingerWyomingValleyand eventually home.

Could that be by Christmas?

We’re not going to rush it,” Corey Wilson said. “If she’s ready, that’ll be fine. But the truth is we’ve already gotten our Christmas present.”