Going the Distance – Young Woman Travels from Maryland for High-Risk Pregnancy Care at Hutzel

Natasha Moulton-Levy is a smart woman. She has an MBA, runs a healthcare consulting firm and grew up in a family of doctors. So when she was pregnant with her first child in 2002 and learned she was at risk of having a pre-term delivery, she knew she needed expert care from leading high-risk obstetricians.

Even though she lives in Maryland, she turned to Hutzel Women’s Hospital in Detroit.

“My family is in Michigan and we knew I might need to be restricted to bed rest in the hospital for weeks,” she said. “We wanted to be closer to my family, but my husband and I also wanted the absolute best high-risk care for our baby.”

At Hutzel, Natasha was able to postpone the birth for five weeks – eventually delivering at 31 weeks. Those extra weeks may have saved her daughter’s life. The newborn weighed just 3 pounds and four ounces, but under the expert care of physicians and nurses at Hutzel, she grew stronger and was soon ready to go home.

“The staff is so caring and compassionate,” Natasha said. “They really made a bad situation much better for us.”

Natasha and her baby returned home to Maryland, but her experience with Hutzel wasn’t over yet. Pregnant with her second child in late 2003, she went to see her obstetrician who referred her to a Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) specialist at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore for consultation. At just 21 weeks into her second pregnancy, her cervix was already opening – putting her at a serious risk of pre-term delivery.

The MFM specialist in Maryland wanted to admit her to the hospital in Baltimore right away, but Natasha had something else in mind. Her physician at Hutzel, Theodore Jones, M.D., remembers it vividly.

“I got a phone call from a colleague of mine in Maryland,” he said. “We exchanged pleasantries and then he said he was calling about a patient of mine, Ms. Moulton-Levy. When he explained the circumstances, I thought it was a courtesy call letting me know she would be hospitalized there. Imagine my surprise when he let me know that Ms. Moulton-Levy insisted on coming back to Hutzel Women’s Hospital and as we spoke she was getting into her sister’s truck and starting out on the over seven-hour drive to Detroit. She arrived that night at the Labor Reception Center and we admitted her to the hospital for evaluation and care.”

If Natasha was going to be in the hospital for weeks, she said she wanted to be at Hutzel. “I already knew Dr. Jones and I knew all the nurses and staff on the high-risk obstetrics unit,” she said. “I was stressed out because I was having another premature baby, but I was comforted knowing I could go to Hutzel.”

Natasha was admitted to Hutzel at 21 weeks into her pregnancy. Under the care of Dr. Jones, she was able to postpone delivery of her son, Julian Gabriel, until 26 weeks.

“At 21 weeks, there is almost no chance of a newborn surviving,” said Dr. Jones. “But by gaining those five additional weeks, we were able to give him a chance.”

Following his birth, Julian Gabriel had a rough road ahead of him. He spent nine weeks on a ventilator in Hutzel’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Natasha admits there were times she thought he might not make it. But with the care of compassionate and highly skilled doctors and nurses – and a lot of prayer from family and friends – Natasha and her husband were able to bring the baby home in early May 2004.

“I just take my hat off to the people who work at Hutzel,” she said. “They are so very well trained and they sit down and explain things to you and make sure you understand, even when it’s not great news. If I have another child, I will definitely have it at Hutzel.”

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