Medical City Healthcare | Take Care | Spring 2019

Angela and Randy Sharp were surprised to hear three distinct heartbeats during an early prenatal sonogram. “That was quite a nice sur- prise,” Angela said. But the news wasn’t all good. Angela was diagnosed with vasa previa, a condition which is more prevalent in pregnancies with multiples. In vasa previa, blood vessels run outside of the umbilical cord and placenta, resulting in a high risk of rupture. “There was a chance of bleeding and losing all three babies,” Randy said. The Sharps knew what they had to do. “We did the research, looking for a specific level NICU, a Level III NICU,” Randy said. “The hospi- tal a few miles closer to us only had a Level II NICU. We didn’t want to take any chances. We went with Medical City Lewisville .” Why NICU levels matter “Medical City Lewisville is equipped to provide care down to gestational ages as low as 23 weeks, which is just a little over halfway through a preg- nancy,” said Deborah Cates, Director of Women’s and Chil- dren’s Services. “As soon as we found out the Sharps would be delivering with us, we started making a plan.” At 30 weeks, Angela was admitted to the hospital. “Our teams were in place and had everything in the NICU ready to take care of these three precious little baby boys,” Deborah said. Finally—babies! Combined, brothers Morgan, Aydan and Ryan weighed just under 9 pounds at birth. “From the doctors and the nurses to the food service, they provided excellent care,” Angela said. “It was wonderful. It was a great experience.” “There’s no doubt we’ll be eternally grateful to the hos- pital and all the staff,” Randy said. A risky multiple pregnancy delivers three times the joy Medical City Healthcare has seven hospitals with Level III NICUs or higher in North Texas. Learn more at WeDeliverDreams.com . Meet the triplets and learn more about their care: MedicalCityHealthcare .com/TakeCare . 9 MedicalCityHealthcare.com