Born premature, he encourages moms of preemies

She returned home to her baby’s empty crib.

Absence hit Mary Hylton hardest when she had to leave her son, Jake, at Southwest Washington Medical Center in 2004 after his birth. Mary had been induced into labor because her amniotic fluid was dangerously low, and after a day of labor she had been given an epidural, which dropped her blood pressure and Jake’s heart rate. Mary’s body went limp, and the monitors flatlined, which prompted an emergency cesarean section. After she gave birth, Mary returned to her shocked sister-in-law and husband Jim.

“Why are you guys so sad? We’ve got a baby,” Mary recalled. “Jim squeezed my hand, and said, ‘I thought I was going to lose you both.’ ”

As if Jake’s birth weren’t dramatic enough, he entered the world premature, a month ahead of schedule. It meant a nurse took a picture of Jake and hung it in Mary’s room, so she could see what he looked like. Mary had to wait 24 hours to see her son in person after his birth, as she recovered from the epidural and emergency surgery. And when Mary left the hospital only days after Jake’s birth, she left Jake, too, and returned home to his empty crib, which he wouldn’t fill for more than two weeks.

“You’re wondering if you are ever going to bring him home,” Mary, 53, said. “The hardest part was going home and seeing the empty crib, and realizing I didn’t come home with my baby.”

Last week, Jake Hylton and his mother passed out letters to parents of premature babies in PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center’s Neonatal Unit, as part of a leadership project Jake had undertaken for Hockinson Middle School. The parents who received the letters are encountering the same anxieties Mary experienced 14 years ago at the same hospital.

“You feel like you’re the only one that’s going through it, even though you are surrounded by people who are going through it. You don’t know how things turn out,” Mary said.

For the 14-year-old Jake, writing the letter and handing about 20 of the 46 copies out was an enlightening exercise. He’s known for some time he was a premature baby, but didn’t realize “how traumatic it would be” to not see your child until a day after the birth. The letter contained a message of hope that explained a good and healthy life can follow a premature birth. It’s a message that resonated.

“It felt pretty good because everybody was crying when they read the letter, and everybody shook my hand,” Jake said.

One of those mothers was Karrie Keehart, whose daughter Lucy was born two months premature at 2 1/2 pounds on June 6. Keehart has a 17-year-old son, Rick, who just graduated from Mountain View High School, but he wasn’t premature. This time around has been more emotionally trying.

It was 26 hours before she could see Lucy after the birth. Three days before she could touch Lucy’s skin. And 10 days before she could hold her. Keehart now visits the hospital about five hours each day to hold Lucy, sing to her, tell her about mountains, the ocean, “and everything we love,” Keehart said. The separation has been hard. Keehart once called the hospital at 3 a.m. to check on Lucy.

“You get an image in your mind of how birth is going to go,” she said. “That you’re going to take your baby home and you have all these pre-plans in your head, and when it comes to premies, that knocks your plans out of the water.”

Jake and Mary’s visit and letter assured Keehart that “bad times don’t last forever,” she mentioned. Keehart said it was powerful to see how the experience has stayed with Mary, even after 14 years. As much as anything, she just appreciated seeing Jake, an embodiment of a healthy life being fulfilled.

“I always love it when I hear people share their experiences to encourage others,” Keehart said. “Immediately I was drawn to that, especially it being a 14-year-old kid. It was very encouraging to see him right in front of you and hear all of his hobbies and everything.”

Jake wears a size 13 shoe, is nearly 6 feet tall, and as he says: “I’m pretty healthy and really happy, and I’m taller than my mom’s sister and half the family members in my family that are (in their 20s).” He likes fishing, hiking, hunting, kayaking and camping. He’s in the Babe Ruth baseball league in Woodland, and plays “catcher, pitcher, third base, first base, a little bit of second base, a little bit of right field and wherever else the coach will put me.”

Oversized green chair

Just as Mary returned home to an empty crib, Keehart returned home to an empty oversized comfy green chair. The plan was to snuggle with her husband, Rick, and Lucy in the chair, but for now they can only tell Lucy silly stories about the chair. Doctors want to see Lucy breath on her own, eat on her own, regulate her own body temperature and gain some weight before she can return home, probably in early to mid-July. Until then, the Keeharts will continue to catch themselves dreaming of being cozy in the green chair with their dog Parker resting nearby.

“She’ll get to meet the fuzzy one too, soon,” Keehart said, before mentioning that Parker’s barks used to make Lucy kick. “She seems to smile when we say (Parker’s) name. I think she’s pretty excited about being with us all the time.”