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Darin and Amanda Newton of Sikeston
were busy preparing for the birth of their first
child.
They had started decorating the nursery and had
signed up for childbirth preparation classes August
25, 2001 at Southeast Missouri Hospital.
Their baby was due October 4th 2001, and the
Newtons thought they had plenty of time to get
ready.
Their baby had other ideas. On the afternoon
of August 22nd, Amanda’s water broke.“After
15 minutes trying to figure out which car had
enough gas, we headed up to Cape,” Amanda
recalled. “At first we thought this was
just a false alarm. After all, it was six weeks
before our due date.”
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Darin and Amanda Newton of Sikeston with
their new daughter, Kylyn Reign, born at Southeast
Missouri Hospital August 23rd…six weeks
early. |
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But once in Cape, tests confirmed
that her water had indeed broken. “We stayed
and had Kylyn the next afternoon,” the new
mom explained. “It was a big surprise!”
Because Kylyn arrived a month-and-a-half early
(weighing a little over four-and-a-half pounds),
she was admitted to Southeast’s Special
Care Nursery and put under the care of that Nursery
staff, including Paul Caruso, M.D., one of the
Hospital’s three pediatric hospitalists.
“We just wanted her to be healthy,”
Darin said. “Dr. Caruso was great and assured
us that everything would be fine.”
For the next week, Darin split his time between
Sikeston and Cape Girardeau, but Amanda stayed
at Southeast in a comfortable room designed for
mothers of Special Care babies where she could
help care for and feed Kylyn. “We got to
know all of the Special Care Nursery staff quite
well,” she said. “I felt extremely
confident with them, and they were always there
when we needed them.”
Kylyn went home on August 31st, 2001 and her
parents say they often spend hours at a time simply
watching her sleep in her crib…a perfectly
healthy, growing baby girl.
Darin said that based on the care they experienced
at Southeast “we’ll definitely be
coming back for our next baby.” Amanda quickly
added “maybe next time we’ll wait
until the actual due date!” |
