Two years later, "micro-preemie" baby enjoys Christmas

By Connie Sage Correspondent

NAGS HEAD, N.C.

Christmas at the Lawrensons looks pretty ordinary.

A 7-foot tree trimmed with white lights and childhood ornaments. Presents under the tree. A big dinner planned with family.

But for Nate, Tricia and Gwyneth Lawrenson, today is particularly joyful: Mother and child are healthy.

Gwyneth, who will be 2 years old on Jan. 8, was a “micro-preemie,” born at 1 pound, 6 ounces while her mother, Tricia, was on a ventilator.

Three months after Gwyneth’s birth, Tricia, who was in the end stages of cystic fibrosis, received a double lung transplant.

“This year we can relax and enjoy the holiday season and spend time with family,” said Nate, 28.

Tricia, 27, has shown no sign of rejecting the donated lungs. Despite chemotherapy for lymphoma, pneumonia and 40 to 50 pills daily, it’s the best she’s felt in a decade, Nate said.

Gwyneth weighs 20 pounds. She’s had two eye surgeries and began wearing glasses in October to correct nearsightedness. She’s not quite walking and has just started talking, but there are no signs of learning disabilities. “This is the first year since ’06 to have Christmas in our own home, to decorate and have our own tree,” he said. “Life feels very normal for us.”

To date, 900 lung transplants have been performed at Duke University Medical Center, according to Dr. David Zaas, medical director for lung transplant and heart-lung transplant programs. Tricia is the only woman who had given birth so soon before the surgery at Duke, he said.

It was unusual to carry the baby as long as she did and to recover enough to tolerate the transplant, Zaas said after Tricia’s April 2008 surgery. While it is not uncommon to have both a transplant and a child, that usually happens years apart, he said.

Tricia developed post-implant lymphoma and underwent five months of chemotherapy.

Lymphoma occurs in 5 percent to 10 percent of organ transplants, Zaas said last week. “She’s beaten that and is cancer free. She’s doing great.”

Tricia learned she was pregnant the day before she left the Outer Banks for pre-transplant physical therapy at Duke. Not only was she then temporarily ineligible for a lung transplant, her doctors told her there was a good chance that neither she nor her baby would survive the pregnancy. They recommended an abortion. Tricia and Nate said no.

After three months of physical therapy, Tricia grew weaker and was transferred to Duke’s intensive care unit on Jan. 3, 2008. The transplant team put her on a ventilator, hoping to give the baby more time to grow.

When her vital signs dropped precariously five days later, doctors opted for an emergency cesarean section. Nate was asked whether he wanted them to save her or the baby.

Do everything you can to save my wife and baby, he told them.

At birth, Gwyneth was so tiny that her father could slip his wedding band over his newborn daughter’s wrist and glide it to her shoulder.

He said Gwyneth is growing and catching up developmentally. She has physical, occupational and speech therapy weekly. Because Nate is not a carrier of the cystic fibrosis gene, Gwyneth does not have the disease.

Tricia is a stay-at-home mom. Nate is a worship leader for Nags Head Church, where his father, Rick, is lead pastor. Instead of giving each other gifts this Christmas, Nate and Tricia chose to help others.

They’re taking part in the “Advent Conspiracy,” an international church-based project that advocates turning away from holiday commercialism and giving to those who need it.

Nate and Tricia also wanted to help those closer to home.

“A lot of friends at church or in the community are out of work,” Nate said. “We’re looking for ways to invest in their lives and meet practical needs. We’ve been blessed.”