An expecting Vernon mom was flown to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster just two days after Christmas when her water broke almost three months early.
Tia Ecks-Sauter isn’t due to deliver her baby boy, already named Loyal, until March 20. But on Dec. 27 she awoke to an unexpected surprise of her water breaking 11 weeks early.
Within hours, she was rushed by plane to the hospital that could properly care for him being so premature.
“So far he is still inside,” said Ecks-Sauter, who is bedridden and being given medication to help delay labour. “Can really only hope for the best but he will only stay in for so long.”
Her partner, Joshua Lawrence, has driven to RCH to be by her side, while their children are being looked after by family.
But with no room for him to stay overnights at the hospital with her, they are struggling to find an affordable option.
“We don’t have coverage or the funds to pay what they want for a private room. He is my only support person or I would be alone here. Everything is kind of up in the air right now,” she said, as she also waits to speak with a social worker.
Lawrence is self-employed at the moment, therefore also has no benefits to take time off.
“It’s been rough with COVID and everything,” Ecks-Sauter said of their current situation.
They are looking at a minimum one month stay in the Lower Mainland.
“This has turned my family’s world upside down for the next little while,” Ecks-Sauter said.
Feeling out of resources, she has appealed to the community to help them with a GoFundMe page, Baby Loyal’s Road to Recovery.
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