Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM October 2017 | Page 13

Losing race with time
Someone told Nacole to be calm. She wished he would
just shut up as she reassured herself it wouldn't be long.
But the boat kept stopping to pick up people. They
passed others, clinging to whatever they could. "We'll be
back." Time is running out, she thought to herself. This is
taking too long. She gripped her son so tightly he whined
she was hurting him.
Finally, as the overloaded boat arrived at Wedgewood
Elementary School, now a makeshift shelter, a wheelchair
was waiting for Nacole. Soon an ambulance appeared. In
the blur there were a few familiar faces. Arms stretched
out for her sons.
"Please don't let anything happen to my boys," she
pleaded as she was loaded into the ambulance.
She had no idea what happened to her husband.
Her blood pressure was spiking. The paramedics worried
about pre-eclampsia, a potentially fatal condition that
strikes pregnant women when their blood pressure gets
too high. The ride was too bumpy to insert an IV.
Then the ambulance hit high water and could not get
through. Her contractions were a minute apart. Nacole
closed her eyes and tried to make peace that she would
have the baby in the ambulance. She dialed Kevin's
number over and over.
"I need you," she shouted. "I don't care about the house."
A paramedic took her phone.
The ambulance backtracked and found a different way to
Clear Lake Regional Medical Center. And then: "We're
here.”
Nurses swarmed around her. Nacole's labor had stalled,
and the baby's heart rate was dropping. His umbilical
cord was tight