In August 2018, Jacob and Lauren Lange, both rural high-school agriculture teachers, were driving home from a conference in Lubbock when Lauren started shaking violently and uncontrollably. She had never experienced a seizure before. Lauren was 27 years old, 26 weeks pregnant, and on the road in the middle of nowhere, still hours from her physician back in Graham, Texas. Panicked, Jacob turned the truck around and headed toward Covenant Children’s Hospital.
“Covenant was amazing,” says Lauren today. “We had no idea who these people were, but they seemed to know us. The nurses made us feel comfortable.”
Lauren’s situation was crucial. She had a migraine, she was nauseous, and, even more disconcerting, doctors found she was suffering from eclampsia, a rare but serious condition where elevated blood pressure causes seizures during pregnancy. The physicians decided to perform an emergency Cesarean section, and little Jarrett was born 14 weeks prematurely. He had high blood pressure, underdeveloped lungs, and a heart murmur.
Over the next four months, baby Jarrett gathered strength with the help of the nurses and doctors in the Covenant Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Jacob made the frequent three-and-a-half-hour commute to and from work in Graham, while Lauren, now discharged from the hospital as a patient, stayed in Lubbock to monitor her only child’s progress. Every three hours, she would arrive to see the baby, change his diaper, take his temperature, and change his clothes. There were good days and bad days. She lived in a nearby Ronald McDonald House, but Covenant let the Langes set up an RV in the hospital parking lot so that, on a bad day, Lauren could stay close by.
“The people in the NICU made sure everything was perfect,” says Lauren. “Being around all those people gave it a family atmosphere. They weren’t just workers who came in and out—they’d sit down and really get to know us.”
After a roller-coaster four months, baby Jarrett was finally ready to go home. The Covenant staff threw a big going-away party with music. The NICU nurses came out to have their picture taken with the baby. Lauren bought the staff gifts out of appreciation, and she had a photo of Jarrett imposed on a big canvas for each of them to sign and scribble notes on.
Two years later, that canvas still hangs in Jarrett’s bedroom back in Graham, so that he can get to know the people who helped bring him into the world. Some of the doctors and nurses also keep up with the Langes through social media. Covenant is now part of Jarrett’s extended family.
“My husband and I would move to Lubbock,” says Lauren, “because of how they treated us and welcomed us into their family.”
Far from home, a new mother found family at Covenant Children’s.
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"The people in the NICU made sure everything was perfect."