Miracle Babies Were Born During Hurricane Helene, Including Baby Phoenix at 29 Weeks
No one expects to welcome a new child into the world amid a powerful storm causing what some have called “biblical devastation,” but that’s exactly what these parents did during Hurricane Helene.
Baby Phoenix Crowe was born at 29 weeks in the midst of Helene, surviving both the storm and a premature birth after his mother’s “miracle” pregnancy.
Phoenix’s mother, Jewelia Crowe, had been told that she could never conceive or carry a baby, according to North Carolina news outlet Asheville Citizen Times. Her fiancé Samuel Dillard said the baby was “our miracle.”
Crowe started having contractions when she was just 29 weeks pregnant, and after Dillard drove her 45 minutes away to a hospital, she was rushed by ambulance to Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC, because her water had started to break.
Dillard followed the ambulance in his car in total silence. “It was a quiet ride of just a million thoughts,” he said, later adding, “It looked like my miracle was going to go away.”
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However, the hospital was able to slow down Crowe’s contractions, and the doctor gave her steroids to help Phoenix’s lungs develop.
A few days later, Crowe’s water broke completely, and Phoenix was born on September 27, as “Helene was starting to slowly tear Western North Carolina apart,” according to the Citizen Times.
He weighed 2 pounds and 10 ounces, and his mother had a chance to hold him before he was rushed to the NICU.
Minutes later, the electricity went out, but the hospital’s generators kicked in. Citizen Times reports that Phoenix is thriving.
Citizen News reports that at least 32 other babies were born at Mission Hospital during the storm.
In a Facebook post, a North Carolina woman named Heather Golden related how she rescued a mom and her six-day-old baby, whom she left anonymous. The mother had given birth by herself in the storm. Golden said she was the woman’s first contact. The mother’s boyfriend is missing.
Golden wrote, “Before I left for our run (my car was water and med kits) I saw there was extra room. I could have loaded anything but for some reason I chose to load it down with baby supplies. Diapers, wipes, formula, bottles etc.”
Golden continued, “And we found the ONE person who needed it… urgently. Because she had 1 pre-made bottle left from her shower.”
After Golden left the mother with enough supplies to take care of the baby, she returned with more supplies, but she said her mission was “in reality, to convince her to come with me.”
The mother’s house was surrounded by mud coming to the knees or waist, and the mother was scared to leave her home.
“I told her that yes, it was deep, but we would make it and to just trust me. Just give me the baby. So, I held baby E and strapped my backpack tight (pulled straps tight so momma could hold onto me) to my back and told momma to hold on to me and just keep going. If we got stuck we could get out.”
Golden safely delivered the mother and her baby to a local church so that she could receive medical care and return to her loved ones.
Another baby, Addison Grace Hayes, was also born on September 27 during the height of Hurricane Helene at Health Park Medical Center in Lee County, Florida. Her parents related the experience in an interview with news outlet Wink.
“From our window, we could see the wind and the trees just almost tilting sideways,” said mother Kaitlyn Hayes. “It was pretty scary, especially through the night. That was when my water broke.”
She continued, “We had alerts going off on our phones for [a] tornado watch. We’re trying to chill and relax like, ‘Hey, we’re bringing our baby into this world,’ but also, what is the state of our home? What is the state of our families’ homes? And the people we love and care about.”
However, Addison was born perfectly healthy. Her father, David Hayes, said while rocking his daughter, “If you haven’t experienced it yet, you just don’t know what you’re in for. And then when she pops out looking like this, it’s hard not to just fall in love.”
LifeNews Note: Grace Porto writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
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