North Texas Woman, Baby Remain In North Dakota After Giving Birth More Than Three Months Early
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
ARLINGTON (CBS11) - A woman from Arlington is still hundreds of miles away from home in North Dakota after a family road trip for Christmas.
Crystal Russell was 24 weeks pregnant when she hit the road with her family for a vacation just before Christmas.
The family drove straight through.
Shortly after they arrived, Crystal went to sleep and her husband Chris noticed she was hemorrhaging when he went in to go to sleep.
"I felt something wet. I was covered in her blood," Chris Russell said.
He woke her up. They raced to a small hospital in Williston, North Dakota. It wasn't long before they were being care-flighted to a hospital better prepared for this in Bismarck.
They learned Crystal's placenta had pulled away from her uterus but that the baby would be okay as long as they remained there until her due date April 15.
Two days later Crystal delivered Wyatt. Doctors gave him a limited chance of surviving birth but he did.
Born the day after Christmas, three months early, Wyatt was just one pound two ounces.
Her family went back to Texas on New Year's Day.
With no family to lean on Crystal communicates with her family every day via Skype.
"Its hard, they've we've never been apart this long" Crystal says,
She's staying at the Ronald McDonald House while Wyatt remains in the NICU at St. Alexius.
Now, her husband Chris is holding on to hope that Wyatt will make it until the day they are all reunited.
Fighting tears Chris says, "I just want to touch him.. but his skin is so paper thin.. we can't even do that... its really hard."
A GoFundMe account is set up to help the family with expenses.
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)