Health

Mill Hall family’s ‘miracle baby’ now a typical toddler

Ryan Everett, 3, of Mill Hall, is a typical toddler. He loves to wrestle with his dad and brother, cuddle with his family dog and climb around, pretending to be Spiderman.

However, Ryan's start in life was anything but ordinary -- he came into this world as a 1-pound, 15-ounce micro-preemie at Geisinger's Janet Weis Children's Hospital in Danville.

April 4, 2019 began as a normal day in her pregnancy for second-grade teacher Teresa Everett. She went on a field trip with her class, made snow cones at the PTO family night that night and went home.

Then, in the middle of the night, her water broke. Teresa was 26 weeks pregnant. She woke her husband Robert and they made their way to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.

The medical team told her that her water did indeed break but she was not experiencing contractions, so the plan was to keep her until she gave birth -- hopefully to 32 weeks, Teresa recalled.

Baby Ryan had other ideas, though, and was delivered by C-section that morning, 14 weeks early.

When Teresa woke up in recovery, she was expecting the worst.

"My nurse asked if I wanted to call the NICU and check on my baby, and I said well, my baby died, my baby is not here," Teresa said. "I had never heard of a baby that early."

Dr. Lauren Johnson-Robbins, a neonatologist at Geisinger, was the first one to come into the room and tell the couple that Ryan was OK.

The staff did advise the couple what to expect when they saw Ryan in the NICU for the first time.

"They warned us that he was hooked up to a lot of bands," Robert recalled.

"It wasn't a joyful bundle. He was 1 pound, 15 ounces and 13 inches long," said Teresa. "I was overwhelmed -- so many wires, and just so tiny. His little eyes weren't even open yet. His skin was just so fragile."

The team of doctors sat the family down and told them what the next few months of their lives were going to be like.

"I remember them saying, 'this is going to be a marathon, not a race,'" shared Teresa.

"I was a mess," she said.

Not only was she recovering from major surgery but the couple also had two other children at home to take care of -- a daughter, Emily, then 12, and son, Kyle, who was 10.

The hospital staff encouraged the couple to get into a routine and the family came together and did just that.

"What we did was kind of tag-team," said Teresa.

Robert continued to work, they would get the kids off to school in the morning and Teresa would head to the Janet Weis Children's Hospital at Geisinger, which is about an hour from their home.

"You don't ever expect to need a resource like that. But we are so lucky to have it in our backyard. I never expected to have a baby born unhealthy or need the 11 different specialties over the course of time. I could drive an hour to appointments instead of driving to Pittsburgh or Philly," said Teresa.

"They're amazing. The doctors, the nurse practitioners and PAs. If you had questions, they made sure you understood everything about your baby and the care they were giving and the choices that you had," said Teresa.

"I am a crier," Teresa said with a laugh, "I was the NICU crier -- I cried when I was happy, when I was sad, when I was worried."

The hospital staff made sure to keep the family updated round the clock.

"They really looked out for him. They knew we couldn't be there all the time," said Teresa. "We were updated a lot. They never got annoyed with my phone calls. Usually I called back at the end of a shift to say 'thank you' for taking care of him today. Then I would call right back before bed, just to say hello to the nighttime nurse and get his height and his length and weight. Tell her 'thank you for taking care of him' and remind her to always tell him 'good-night' and 'we love him'," shared Teresa.

Robbins-Johnson agreed the support of the staff is important.

"We have to recognize we've kind of taken away a family's coping mechanisms, the rest of the world, even when they have a kid in the NICU, the rest of the world doesn't stop. Getting them through day to day the just ups and downs of everything here. To succeed as someone who practices neonatology, you have to understand your job is not just patient care. Your job is total family care, and it is part of the reward," said Robbins-Johnson

All in all, Ryan was considered one of the "big babies" of the NICU, according to one of his doctors.

"That struck me, that 'big baby' comment," said Teresa.

"I never thought just how many little babies are out there and how my baby was healthy. I remember in those initial conversations, 'we haven't found anything alarming yet,' "

Around the fourth of July the doctors decided Ryan was ready to go home.

Due to Ryan's issues with feeding and reflux, he would undergo fundoplication surgery, which is done to prevent stomach contents from returning to the esophagus, before he eventually was sent home in August of 2019, 135 days after he was born.

Thinking back to Ryan's birth and how far he has come, which the family could not have imagined three years ago, "I watched, there were times when his oxygen saturation would get into the 20s and 30s. I remember just saying to the neonatologist advanced practitioners, 'what is his brain going to be like?' Sometimes being a teacher I have too much knowledge on child development, and so I really worried about what his future held," said Teresa.

The Everett family does not take how far Ryan has come for granted.

"The picture you have of him today is not indicative of the struggle that we have been through. This was the end goal, but there were a lot of unknowns in our life," said Teresa.

"In all honesty he's not your average kid. Where he has been able to get the milestones, he has surpassed. He's above the curve a little bit, we have been very fortunate," said Robert.

Dr. Lauren Johnson-Robbins added to their sentiment, "The part that I would look at and say is unique is how wonderful at three and half years of age from a neurological standpoint."

The Everett family is sharing Ryan's story as a "Miracle Kid" for the Children's Miracle Network at Geisinger, which raises funds to provide programs, services and equipment for children at Geisinger Janet Weis Children's like Ryan. Ryan will be featured on the KISS-FM 102.7 FM's annual Kids Holiday Radiothon, Dec. 8 and 9.

"I am really thankful to give him these hugs and hear 'Mommy' 197,000 times," Teresa shared with a smile.