Arlington mom, preemie stuck in N.D. after surprise birth during holidays

Christopher and Crystal Russell planned a fun family vacation during the holidays, including a visit to relatives in North Dakota.

That’s how it started off, too, as the Arlington couple and their three teenage boys stopped to take a family photo at Mount Rushmore.

But the trip soon turned dramatic, and now the family — including a new baby that wasn’t expected until mid-April — has been separated for what could be several more weeks.

On Dec. 23. Crystal, just shy of 24 weeks pregnant, suffered a serious complication called a placental abruption. A few days later, Wyatt Lynn Russell came into the world at 1 pound, 5 ounces, small but full of fight.

Now, Crystal and the baby must remain in a Bismarck, N.D., hospital as he gains weight and strength, perhaps until his original due date of April 15. The rest of the family headed back to Arlington on New Year’s Day for work and school.

“I’m not a patient person,” Crystal said, “but I’m definitely learning to be. Babies are going to do what babies are going to do. I have to stay strong emotionally for my husband and for my teenagers at home as well.”

It’s certainly not how the couple pictured their first few weeks with their son.

Trouble for the Russells started a few hours after they arrived at the home of Christopher’s cousins in Williston, N.D. The family had been traveling in their Toyota Camry for about a day and a half. Crystal made sure to get out of the car and walk every few hours and drink plenty of water, just as her doctor recommended.

She went to bed shortly after they arrived early Dec. 23. Her husband joined her a few hours later and discovered that Crystal was bleeding heavily.

They headed to a small hospital in Williston where doctors told her they thought she was in labor. Soon, it became clear her condition required the advanced care of a larger hospital. A medical flight was arranged to CHI St. Alexius Health, about 225 miles away in Bismarck.

During those confusing, scary first hours, Crystal said her husband was “my rock” as he continued to tell her everything would be OK. Christopher Russell said he was trying to help in the only way he knew how.

“I was really terrified, but I knew if I started panicking it wouldn’t be good for her,” he said.

At St. Alexius, doctors gave Crystal Russell medication to stop the bleeding and determined that about 15 percent of her placenta had pulled away from her uterine wall. She would have to stay in the hospital until her due date. The situation became even more serious when she went into early labor on Dec. 26. This time, the medical team told her it would be best to deliver Wyatt immediately by C-section.

He was so small that Crystal couldn’t even hear his cries. The delivery team reassured her.

“He was throwing a fit,” she said.

“There was a 50/50 shot he could make it through delivery. Once he got to NICU and got oxygen, his odds got a little better. That’s when we realized he was a fighter and we gave him the perfect name because Wyatt means ‘fighter.’ ”

The couple weren’t able to hold their son; his skin was too thin and sensitive. They could only touch his tiny hand.

Leaving part of his family in North Dakota was difficult for Christopher, but he knew he needed to go back to his job at a Grapevine car dealership to make sure Wyatt had a stable home to return to. The older boys, Christopher’s stepsons, also needed to get back to school. Trey Felts, 15, and Joseph Felts, 14, are students at Arlington High School. Their brother Dawson, 13, is at Dunn Junior High.

Crystal is living in the Ronald McDonald House, a nonprofit for which she is enthusiastically thankful. Over the past few weeks, she has taken lots of pictures as Wyatt has grown, keeping friends and family updated on her Facebook page and on one she started for Wyatt.

Wyatt has had four blood transfusions. Right now, he needs a nasal tube for feeding and requires supplemental oxygen. He also has one brain bleed, which is not uncommon in babies so small. Doctors say the bleed is of the lowest stage and only has a small chance of lasting effects.

To his mother’s delight, Wyatt has continually increased his nutritional intake and weighed 1 pound, 12 ounces as of Wednesday. His little eyes, once fused shut, are open and Crystal says she can already see hints of her older sons in Wyatt’s facial expressions.

Old and new friends meet each milestone with well-wishes online.

“He’s doing phenomenal. He really is,” said Christopher, who talks with his wife several times a day by phone and in online video chats. “He has his little hiccups and downtime and she really takes it hard and it’s hard for me not to be there for her. The distance thing is really hard.”

Crystal said the ordeal has shown her just how helpful and supportive family, friends, medical professionals and even strangers can be. In Arlington, for example, others have pitched in to help Christopher manage the boys’ schedules, providing rides to and from wrestling and orchestra practices. Crystal has also become involved in a group for mothers of premature babies that is forming in Bismarck. They helped her buy warm clothes that fit her smaller, post-baby size.

The family also has a GoFundMe account set up to help with expenses. Since Crystal wasn’t near her due date, the family hadn’t purchased much for the baby. They will also use some of the GoFundMe money for Christopher to visit his wife and son in North Dakota in February, on Valentine’s Day weekend.

He’s hoping he’ll be able to hold Wyatt.

“I’m definitely a firm believer in ‘God doesn’t give you more than you can handle,’ ” said Crystal Russell. “I’m definitely being tested on that now, but believing it is what gets me through the day.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Arlington mom, preemie stuck in N.D. after surprise birth during holidays."