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For Immediate Release
September 18, 2006
Mercy Celebrates More than 5,000 Fragile Babies Grown Strong
Oklahoma City—If you ask anyone who has had a
premature baby what the hardest part of the experience was, they will
most likely echo what the Kriegels and the Hursts said: Going home
without baby in tow. And ask anyone who has had a premature baby at
Mercy what the best part of the experience was and they will probably
chime in, “Mercy.”
Since 1975, Mercy’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
has cared for and sent more than 5,000 tiny babies home to grow into
their own. To celebrate, Mercy will host an NICU reunion Sunday,
September 24, from 2 to 4 p.m. on the Mercy Track where NICU graduates,
their parents, doctors and nurses will visit together, sharing photos
and stories.
“I am so thankful for the people at Mercy,” said
Laura Kriegel, proud mother of now 4-year-old Max Richard Kriegel. “They
became like family. They see countless babies each year, and we are just
so thankful that Max was one of them.”
On New Year’s Eve of 2001, Dr. David Melendez, a
Mercy ob-gyn, ordered Laura, then 25 weeks pregnant, to permanent bed
rest. At 32 weeks pregnant, or two months before Max was due, Laura gave
birth to her 3-pound, 6-ounce son.
 Max spent five weeks in Mercy’s NICU. “The nurses
were always within reach,” said Rich Kriegel, Max’s father.
“They were right there if we needed anything or had
any questions,” Laura added. It was nurses like Bev McCoy, Marie
Connolly, Shannon Coker and Becky Church who made the difference.
Together, they taught the Kriegels how to care for a premature baby.
“I gave Max his first bath,” boasted Rich. The
couple learned everything from how to give him his medications to how to
give kangaroo therapy—skin-to-skin touch that quickly calms an irritated
infant.
The nurses encouraged the parents to call with any
concerns, even when the family was at home. “They said, ‘If you wake up
in the middle of the night and you are worried about Max, you call us,’
“ Laura recalled. “They didn’t make me feel like a needy, crazy,
hormonal mom.”
 For Brina and Simon Hurst, whose son was born 10
weeks early, the experience at Mercy was much the same. “Dennis got a
lot of love,” said Brina.
And Dennis Jacob Hurst, born at 4 pounds, 3 ounces,
needed a lot of love. Brina, who had planned on everything from a
natural birth to breastfeeding her child, soon found all plans
sidelined. Her water broke in an Oklahoma City Homeland Store in 2001,
while her husband Simon was in England for his sister’s wedding.
Although he returned before Dennis was born, they
were soon set on a course that they had never anticipated. “It was a
roller coaster,” said Brina. “Nothing was turning out the way I wanted
it to be.” First premature, then on a ventilator—Dennis went from one
condition to the next: jaundice, a heart murmur (that later healed on
its own), galactosemia (a genetic intolerance to milk that in the most
severe cases can lead to mental retardation), a hernia and, finally,
chicken pox at four months.
At every turn, the nurses and doctors explained
everything that was happening and prepared the young couple for their
new responsibilities. Now, at 5 years old, Dennis is doing fine with no
cause for concern.
Both the Kriegels and the Hursts plan to attend the
Mercy reunion on the Mercy Track, just north of the main hospital. All
Mercy NICU graduates, their families and friends are invited. There will
be music, refreshments and lots of fellowship. If you are an NICU
family, you can update your contact information by calling (405)
752-3858 or go on-line to mercyok.net.
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