Meet Miracle Kid Lauren Strobel

Posted at: 06/01/2011 11:24 AM | Updated at: 06/01/2011 8:13 PM
By: Janet Lomax | WHEC.com

They say their baby is alive thanks to Golisano Children's Hospital.

April 14, 2010. Christy Strobel is a week overdue and is scheduled to be induced into labor. But within minutes of her arrival at Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira, she's suddenly headed for an emergency c-section.

When the baby is born, Christy says she and husband Mike realize something is terribly wrong. "It all of a sudden dawned on me, I didn't hear anything. I didn't hear her crying and nobody was saying anything and I remember turning and looking to Mike and saying, "What's going on? Why isn't she crying?"

Nine-and-a-half pound Lauren -- more than a week overdue -- wasn't breathing. Lauren's Apgar score which assesses a newborns condition was zero at birth. She had no heartbeat. Doctors and nurses worked with her and after 18 minutes there was a very faint heartbeat. By 22 minutes she had a heartbeat but she still wasn't breathing on her own.

Mike says "Just watching all the doctors working frantically and hearing them count and do CPR on our daughter and not hearing her cry. That’s not something I'll ever forget."

Doctors in Elmira knew Lauren needed help and fast. They also knew it was important to keep her body temperature cool. So they rushed her to Golisano Children's Hospital. It is the first in Upstate New York to use cooling blankets as a standard of care, thanks to the hard work of Dr. Ronnie Guillett a neonatologist and Lauren's physician.

Guillet says, "As soon as she hit our door she was put on a bed with a cooling blanket. We got an EEG when she first came in and she had very, very little brain activity. With the cooling blanket, we maintained her temperature at 33.5 degrees Centigrade for 72 hours more hours gradually re-warmed her over six hours."

Mike made the trip to Golisano to be with his newborn but Christy was still in a hospital bed Elmira. She'd just had major surgery. She was preparing for the worst. She says, "I honestly thought I'm going to have to plan for a funeral, I'm going to have to leave here and plan for a funeral."  But the very next day, she was out of that bed and on the road to Rochester. When she saw Lauren in the NICU, she was shocked. "She was very cold to the touch. You just felt her and just so cold, like you'd been outside without any type of clothing on, just so cold."

Over the next few days, the news about baby Lauren's chances were equally as chilling. Dr. Guillet had to be frank with the family. "We did talk about what was in Lauren's best interest, whether it was in her best interest to take her off the ventilator, let her family hold her and let her pass peacefully or if the family wanted us to keep supporting her on the ventilator and play it day by day."

The Strobels chose to keep going and five days later, Lauren opened her eyes. After three weeks and three days in the NICU, Lauren went home just in time for Mother's Day. Lauren did so well, at her six-month old check up doctors at Golisano said she didn't need to come back.

The Strobels call the doctors and nurses in the NICU an amazing group. Mike adds, “If it wasn't for them, there are a lot of parents out there who would not have their children today."

News 10NBC’s annual telethon to benefit the Golisano Children's Hospital is set for June 3 and 4.

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