In a Heartbeat
“As I began feeling the effects of the anesthesia, I thought about the possibility of never seeing my husband, our 2-year-old son Anthony, or my family again. I thought about never having the chance to meet my unborn daughter.” Just 14 weeks into her second pregnancy, Angela Mason, 35, discovered her aortic stenosis had progressed from moderate to severe, placing her and her unborn daughter, Hazel, in serious danger. In a heartbeat, Angela’s excitement turned into fear and uncertainty.
The night before the delivery, Angela checked into North Kansas City Hospital’s Labor & Delivery area. “It wasn’t until the nurses arrived to take me to the operating room that I fully grasped the gravity of my situation,” Angela says. “I realized how invested the hospital was in me and my family when my nurses wheeled me out of the room and there were 20 other nurses outside my door clapping and shouting words of encouragement. It was overwhelming.”
Sobbing, Angela said goodbye to her family for what could be the last time, and the OR team wheeled her into surgery.
Welcome, Hazel
Angela woke in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit a few hours later. Hazel weighed a healthy 6 pounds, 16 ounces, but needed a little extra attention in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Angela’s health wasn’t in the clear either. Serious complications were still possible up to 48 hours after the delivery as Angela’s body processed the excess blood created by the pregnancy.
Because both Angela and Hazel were confined to ICUs, their first mother-daughter snuggle had to wait. But the nurses had other plans. “The day after surgery, the nurses told me that if I could get into a wheelchair, they would take me to see Hazel,” Angela recalls. “That’s not a common occurrence for ICU patients, and it took a lot of people to move me because of the number of wires and monitors attached to my body.”
Nearly nine months later, Angela is still amazed at the level of care she received.
“The doctors and nurses were awesome,” she says. “They went beyond anything I could have asked them to do for my family.”
“People ask me why I didn’t go to one of the larger area hospitals. It’s because I trust these people with my life. I’m thankful for my team at NKCH and what they did for me and Hazel.”
From keeping your heart healthy for a lifetime to providing emergency service in a heartbeat, our heart care program is the most comprehensive one in the Northland. Find out more at nkch.org.
