Aubrey Rose Owen-3

From Rosann: “I was hoping today that we would be able to go home. When I woke up they took a blood test. The morning was pretty nice, my sister visited and we watched How to train your dragon. That was a cute show. It was nice to think about something different than what we were going through. At 12:30 PM the entire day changed. My nurse came in and told us that they were life-flighting me to either the University Hospital or to St. Marks in SLC. The helicopter was already on its way. I asked Pete for a priesthood blessing. In the blessing he reminded me of the atonement and that it was very important that I focus on my Heavenly Father and my Savior during my helicopter ride. They later confirmed I would be sent to the University Hospital (U), because of the proximity to Primary Children’s Hospital.











They prepared me for the flight by putting me on a catheter and gave me magnesium sulfate through IV. Magnesium Sulfate would prevent me going into a seizure, it also made my temperature rise and I felt hotter than I have ever in my life. When life-flight arrived they put me on another helicopter friendly bed. They put an ice pack on my forehead and dabbed the sweat off my face, sadly it was not enough, I threw up the omelet I had for breakfast. It was a gross time to throw up, because I was strapped into the new bed, with blankets wrapped around me, and nurses surrounding me. All of the nurses kept reassuring us that the U was the best place for me and that I and my baby would be best cared for there. My dad arrived while they were strapping me up and said he would drive to SLC to meet me at the U when I arrived. One nurse told me that I would be delivering the baby in the next 2-4 hours!! Pete thought they said 24 hours. We are still not sure what the nurse said. That really made me aware of how serious my condition was. Pete was with me the whole time. He took some pictures to remember the experience. Once they were ready to go, Pete walked out to the helicopter with me.

It was scary being wheeled into a helicopter. I felt like I was going to die. They hooked me up to oxygen for the ride. I focused on the blessing that Pete gave me. I tried to take deep breaths and to focus on my Savior and the atonement. I also thought of my grandma Rosa Lee who was in heaven looking down on me. I only looked out of the window once. I saw the mountains. The ride was incredibly short. They said the ride would be 15 minutes, but it only felt like 10. Once we landed, they quickly wheeled me out and into the hospital straight to labor and delivery. I was once again surrounded by tons of nurses and doctors who were explaining things to me. My dad arrived at the same time. Then my mom and brothers arrived. I really wanted to see Pete, but he wouldn’t be arriving for another 30 minutes or so.” From Pete: “I am going to talk about what I experienced from the moment we were told Rosann was to be life-flighted to the U. Rosann’s sister seemed scared and I asked her to go and call her parents to let them know. I walked out of the room to call my parents as well. I then started frantically packing the room. I also gave Rosann a blessing. I hadn’t been emotional until this moment, but I just started to cry as I gave her the blessing. I felt very in tune with the spirit as the blessing continued to have the same theme as the others I had given previously. Once the blessing was over more nurses came in and they gave Rosann magnesium sulfate (Mag); I could tell it was really affecting her. She was sweating and it didn’t seem like we could keep her cool. I felt so sorry for her throughout the experience. After the blessing I took everything out to the car. I honestly was so scared of all of the uncertainty that was attached to being life-flighted. People who were in serious states and those who were about to die were those that were life-flighted, right? I must have underestimated the seriousness of the situation. I just thought they were going to keep Rosann in the hospital a long-time until things got better. However, things were not getting better; apparently they were getting worse. I was scared and I kept thinking to myself… my greatest fears have come true… I might lose both my wife and my child! I followed Rosann out to the helicopter and took pictures and video to remember the experience.

Then, I booked it to SLC; it was an emotional trip to make. I cried most of the way down. I made it to the U and all I knew was that labor and delivery was on the second floor. I went up and couldn’t figure out exactly where her room was located. I stopped a nurse and she pointed me in the right direction. I checked-in at the desk and told them my wife was just life-flighted down. The showed me the room. It was right by the desk. I walked in the room; Rosann was set-up, with her parents, and brothers nearby. I was happy to see Rosann just relaxing there.” Later in the afternoon, a representative from Newborn Infant Care Unit (NICU) came to visit. She told us that our little Aubrey (300 g) was just too small to survive in NICU. Their threshold was 600 g. She also, jokingly, told Rosann 'we’re going to try to keep the baby in there as long as we can and you need to eat a bunch of Hägen-Daze.' The U’s main goal was to keep the baby in Rosann as long as possible. They were going to continue to monitor her blood pressure, urine protein content, and blood for low platelet count. Peter went to eat dinner with Rosann’s family at 5PM, because Georgiann was breaking her fast for Rosann. After dinner, Pete’s family arrived. From Pete: “when my brother and father arrived, we decided to give Rosann another blessing. That was an emotional time for me after the blessing. I was just so grateful that I had additional priesthood holders in the room and I was grateful that my father and brother were worthy and ready to give a blessing. I cried in my brother and fathers arms while giving them a hug. I think I was crying because I feared for Rosann, but I was so grateful for my brother and father’s support. There was a sweet spirit during that blessing and I felt it so strong.” A short-time later Rosann’s two sisters and their husbands arrived; additionally, our close friends came to visit as well. We were grateful for their visits. From Pete: “Around 9:30 PM Rosann’s mom decided she would watch over Rosann for the night and give me a break. I was a little worried about other things in the back of my mind. I knew we still needed to move and there was plenty of packing to be done. I also knew my moped was sitting in the middle of Downtown Ogden, with little security. The moped was parked in kind of in a dark spot as well; not really well lit. I would return home in the morning to take care of Rosann and go to church. I didn’t really want to leave, but I did so at both my family and her mother’s encouragement. I was worried things might change quickly while I was gone. My brother was kind enough to help me with the moped. We drove home together, stopped by his apartment to gather his motorcycle gear, and went to the moped. He drove the moped home and I the car. I packed up some office supplies and other personal items at the house then tried to go to sleep. I had a difficult time sleeping that evening; many things were on my mind, the most concerning being Rosann and Aubrey.” From Rosann: “I was so overwhelmed by everything that was happening. I was glad that my mom would be spending the night. Every 6 hours a phlebotomist would come in and take my blood. I am starting to look sore with all the needle pokes in my arms. I didn’t sleep well. My back is so sore from being in a hospital bed since Thursday. Plus the room seems so bright with all the monitor lights for the IV machine and blood pressure machine. My head was so hot from the Magnesium and so I slept with a fan on my head. The rest of my body felt cold though. I had my mom turn off the fan in the middle of the night, because the cool air was a bit too much.”