An unexpected event that would put your unborn child at risk is a worry that no expectant mother ever wants to go through. Unfortunately, this worry became a reality for Joy Beitel on May 25 2019, when she was involved in a car accident while 30 weeks pregnant.

“I was driving near the Regina General Hospital when I was in a car accident. It wasn’t super severe, but definitely jarring.” Joy recalls. “I can remember the airbag going off, the smell of the dust, and being shaken and dazed. With a background in nursing, I immediately started assessing myself for injuries and was clutching my belly, worried about my child.”

With the help of a caring stranger, Joy was immediately taken to the Regina General Hospital Emergency Room. Fifteen minutes later, Joy was transferred to the Labor & Delivery Unit for monitoring and testing on her unborn baby. To Joy’s relief the initial tests came back normal, but six hours later obstetrician Dr. Eman Ramadan advised that the blood test showed something alarming. The blood from both Joy and her baby was mixing in what is referred to as a ‘concealed placental abruption’ which can be fatal to both mother and child. Joy required an immediate emergency C-Section.

“It was scary going from the accident, to thinking everything was fine, to needing an emergency C-section to save both our lives.” Joy tells us. “When baby Finn was delivered, he did cry but also needed help breathing, as he was so premature. Hours later I finally saw him and all I could think was this is not how it was supposed to happen. It was all extremely challenging.”

Finn required care in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Rawlco Centre for Mother Baby Care. His first week would prove very challenging and Joy describes it as “touch and go”. Baby Finn suffered a collapsed lung, needed assistance breathing and a lot of medical scans to monitor his conditions. Finn would eventually graduate from the NICU’s Giraffe Bed (a state-of the-art incubator system which provides premature and ill babies with a controlled, stress-reduced environment, much like that of a mother's womb) on to a ventilator, and finally to breathing on his own. On July 1st, after 37 days in our NICU, Finn was discharged from the Hospital and went home with his family.

“I honestly can’t say enough good things about the nurses and doctors in the NICU. The staff and the equipment they have access to, thanks to the Foundation, have saved so many lives” says Joy. “They are an amazing group of professionals that genuinely care about what they do. They took the extra time to explain anything I asked about. Without them I wouldn’t have my son and I can’t thank them enough for that.”

“Joy and Finn’s story is a reminder of the importance of investing in our pediatric programs to provide the best care possible for children across southern Saskatchewan,” says Dino Sophocleous, president and CEO, Hospitals of Regina Foundation. “The generosity of our community allows the Foundation to invest in life-saving technology each and every year, helping the Beitel/LeBlanc family and others like them live better lives, while receiving the best care possible, right here at home.”