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