Pregnancy Emergency In Mexico Lands Father And Newborn In Miami
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A vacation in Cancun almost ended in disaster for a couple from Malibu.
The Stewart family was on a "babymoon" in Cancun, that's the last vacation before the birth of a child.
Maggie was 6 months pregnant and cleared by her doctor to travel.
"We had this trip planned for the last year, it's kind of our last hurrah before the next baby," Maggie said from her hotel room in Mexico.
Suddenly, Thursday April 5, Maggie was faced with a fight for her life. and the life of her unborn child, due to medical complications which forced her to have an emergency C-section in Mexico.
"We were so prepared for diarrhea, for Zika, for everything else but this," she said. "And so it was absolutely the most terrifying days of my life."
Baby Poppy was born at just one pound six ounces. The doctor there said the baby had just 72 hours to get to advanced care. The Stewart's said their insurance could not fly them out fast enough so they paid thousands for their own plane and sent Poppy and her dad Jeremy to Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami.
"It was as roller coaster ride with many twists and dips and inversions," Jeremy said, "But looking back now, it turned out the way it was supposed to and we're here today and that's what matters."
Poppy is getting specialized care at Nicklaus Children's Hospital. She is breathing with the help of a ventilator. Doctors say despite her rough start her future looks good.
"So 26 weeks is still premature and babies can still have a lot of issues," said Dr. Alex Koetzle. "But now a days, these babies do very well so from a prognostic point of view, I think we should have a very good outcome."
Both Jeremy and Maggie are grateful for all the help medically, emotionally and financially along the way. "We had thousands of people that prayed for us, that cared for us, that were in our corner," said Jeremy, "And I'm certain that had a big deal with how we got here, when we got here and where we got to."
The next step is getting Maggie and their 3-year-old daughter to Miami from Cancun.
"There's a big risk for a blood clot to me if I were to get on a plane too early as I've had this C-section," she said. "So it's absolute total surrender for what has to happen right now."
It looks like the family will be reunited on Friday. That's the day Maggie is cleared to travel so she'll be able to fly from Cancun to South Florida. If you'd like to help with their medical expenses, they do have a GoFundMe page set up.
