Winston Jeffries

Winston Jeffries was born on October 25, 2017 at 11:00 A.M. by an emergency c section at 25 weeks of gestation, weighing 1.1 lb. Due to Jenny having a high risk pregnancy already, doctors were concerned when her blood pressure increases could not be managed. She had not been feeling well for several weeks and was in and out of both the clinic and the emergency rooms. On Monday October 23, her OBGYN took one look at her blood platelet levels and sent her directly to the hospital. A normal blood platelet level is around 150,000 to 450,000, Jenny's was just hovering over 14,000. Needless to say she was very sick and was diagnosed with severe Preeclampsia with dominating HELLP (Hemolysis, Elevated liver enzymes, and a Low Platelet count) syndrome. It is a life threatening pregnancy complication and if left untreated can cause death to either mom, baby or both. Her medical team consisted of High Risk OBGYN, Hematologist, Internal Medicine, Rheumatologist, Perinatologist, and several others. The goal for the next 48 hours was to stabilize Jenny's condition, get steriod injections going to help the baby's lungs develop, magnesium, blood platelet infusions to up her level, a blood transfusion  and to monitor baby's heartbeat.  For the next 41 hours, Jenny's received 24/7 nursing and PCA care. It was decided that they could not wait until the full 48 hours and ended up taking him by an emergency c section. At 11 A.M. we welcomed Winston Jeffries to the world, Jenny's first miracle baby. 


Winston was put on a ventilator and admitted to the NICU immediately after delivery.  He is in critical condition, yet stable from time to time.  He has needed several platelet transfusions and a blood transfusion.  His brain MRI scans (for inter cranial bleeding) are clear.  Here are some of  the really cool things they do in the NICU to encourage mommy and baby bonding:  Jenny is encouraged to reach in for some gentle touch bonding with him, she swabs his mouth out with her own pumped breast milk, and does diaper changes.  Jenny places a cotton cloth with her scent in with him and his scent is shared with her. They have a harpist playing the harp outside of his room on certain days of the week. Kangaroo care will be part of the next steps. There are nurses with him all day, everyday, his blood sugars and gasses are checked and monitored hourly.  His  diaper is about the size of a woman's thumb.  At the time of writing this story, Winston is 9 days old or almost 27 weeks.