Like so many others, Lizzy Jackson had never even heard of The MED until she found herself in serious need of it. When Lizzy was almost 25 weeks along with her first baby, she began experiencing massive pains in her stomach. Not knowing what it could be, she saw her doctor, who assured her everything appeared to be normal. Reassured, Lizzy kept her plans to drive from Jackson to Covington to visit some girlfriends. By the time she arrived, the pain was unbearable, and her friends drove her straight to the hospital.

Lizzy was told that she was ten centimeters dilated and that she had no choice but to deliver the baby now. Well aware of the dangers of having her child so prematurely, Lizzy just asked, “Will my baby live?” She was told that there was a chance that her baby would make it through. They performed an emergency C-section, and little Annabelle was born. “After the delivery,” Lizzy emotionally recalls, “I was able to see Anabelle just briefly before they airlifted her to The MED. It was so hard to let her go.”

"My husband tried to prepare me for what we were up against,” Lizzy remembers. “My Annabelle weighed only one pound and eleven ounces. But no one could have fully prepared me for the road ahead.”

The next day Lizzy was up and walking around, and she spent every day in The MED’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for the next few months with her newborn daughter, who was struggling for her life on a daily basis. Lizzy attests: “Every day I asked a lot of questions. The MED staff told me that it would be a long process to nurse the baby to health, and that I’d be crying a lot. They helped prepare me for the emotional toll it would take, offering encouragement that I had the strength to get through it. When I asked whether I was asking too many questions, they told me that they wanted me to be as well informed as possible. It was such an open environment – the nurses became my friends.”

Lizzy was astounded by the family environment she encountered in The MED’s NICU. “It was so comforting to talk to other mothers going through the same thing I was. I had a built-in support system of mothers and nurses at The MED. Annabelle nearly died several times, and I couldn’t imagine what would have happened if it hadn’t been for The MED and the medical care they were able to provide.”

After exactly 100 days, Annabelle was finally ready to go home at five pounds and six ounces. “It was awesome to leave there after 100 days,” Lizzy explains. “You think the day will never come, and I felt so thankful having such a skilled medical team working to save Annabelle’s life more than once.”

When asked what she would advise other expecting mother to do, Lizzy instantly replied: "If you want to feel 100 percent safe that your baby is in the best hands, The MED is the only place to be."

Annabelle is now going on nineteen weeks, and she's happy and healthy at nine pounds.

Help The MED's NICU continue to be the premiere life-saving center for premature babies by donating to the Healthy Newborn Campaign. This campaign supports training programs and equipment for the NICU at The MED. Click here to donate.