Like many couples, they knew they were ready to have a baby. Miranda and Darren Ardell say everything about their first pregnancy was great, right up until the very end.
“You try to not think the worst but as a mom you just know your body I think and he hadn’t moved,” said Miranda Ardell.
Delivered via caesarean section on Aug. 30, 2013 with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, Kayden Ardell was rushed away to be resuscitated.
When Miranda and Darren finally did get to see him in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Royal University Hospital, they say he was beautiful and looked healthy. They underestimated just how grave the situation really was.
“We look back at pictures and we can see he probably has 15 different medications hooked up to him at one time but we’d walk in and you just don’t see that,” said Darren.
It wasn’t until they heard from their doctor, who was off-site, that things really sunk in for the Ardells.
“She just said ‘you guys just prepare yourselves,'” said Miranda.
“We’re trying to be really positive, she said ‘that’s what the nurses are saying that you guys are really positive and that’s really great but you just have to be realistic as well.'”
READ MORE: Family pays it forward to help others amid health crisis
Miranda and Darren say despite every effort made by the health care team they couldn’t save their son.
Kayden Isaac Ardell passed away on Sept. 2, 2013 from asphyxiation. His parents were both there with him when he entered the world and when he left it.
“We don’t wish it upon our worst enemies to have to leave the hospital without your baby.”
A few family members helped disassemble the nursery before the couple came home but Miranda and Darren say the silence was deafening.
She says she stared at a wall for a month and as they lived out their worst nightmare, they saw others living out their dreams.
“That was a little bit tough,” said Darren as he choked up, Miranda would finish his sentence for him.
“I guess just seeing all of their babies grow up at the same time that our little boy would have been was really hard for us to see.”
So the couple took a trip and came back a little more whole, their hearts a little more healed and when they were ready, they made plans for a second child.
Sixteen months ago, Levi Ardell arrived. She would also require a stay in the NICU but this time there was a happy ending.
“I really do forget a lot about how sad I am because I’m so happy you know, she puts a lot love into our lives.”
The NICU:
- every year, more than 600 babies are born in the Saskatoon Health Region that require a stay in the NICU;
- in December 2015, the number of beds in the NICU increased from 32 to 38 but the staff often cares for up to 41 babies at any given time;
- the health care team at the NICU consists of 180 staff;
- approximately 10 per cent of all newborns born in Canada require a stay and care provided by the NICU;
- the NICU at Royal University Hospital is equipped to handle the most complicated and urgent cases of premature and/or ill babies after delivery.
Comments