OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — A first Mother’s Day is always special. It’s extra special for one young woman from Paola, Kansas, who delivered her baby when she was near death.
Abby Unruh’s trembling hand reached for her baby boy in January. A few weeks before, Unruh had delivered Douglas six weeks early while in a medically-induced coma. When she delivered, she was on a ventilator, critically ill with pneumonia from H1N1 flu.
“I think the only reason I’ve made it as far as I have as quickly as I have is because of him,” Unruh said in January.
“She was literally at death’s door,” said her grandmother, Kathryn Unruh.
This week, the family passed through the doors of the intensive care unit at Overland Park Regional Medical Center. They were back for the first time since Unruh’s long stay. She showed off her healthy baby. She received her first Mother’s Day gift, a lily, from the caregivers who gave her and Douglas the best gift — life.
After her hospital stay, Unruh was in a rehabilitation facility for a month. She was gaining strength to be a mom.
“I worked hard. I was determined,” she said.
And she was ready when Douglas came home a week after she did. Unruh said she’s back to her old self physically. Mentally?
“I forget a little more than I used to,” she said.
Her grandmother agreed.
“She is a little more forgetful, but how can you not be considering all the drugs she was on,” said Kathryn Unruh.
An ICU nurse who cared for Unruh was misty-eyed seeing her again.
“This is why we do what we do,” said Rachel Buerman.
Unruh and her baby overcame great odds to have a first Mother’s Day.
“I’m excited. Oh my goodness,” she said.
H1N1 flu hit young adults especially hard last winter. Unruh hadn’t had a flu shot. Now she tells other pregnant women to get one, and to stay away from others who are sick.
