A year has passed since preemie Rhea Jaylani Thompson spent 109 days in the NICU last Thanksgiving, and she keeps giving her parents so much to be thankful for.
“She’s always been a fighter,” says her mother, Tiya Thompson, who was barely finished with her second trimester in November 2023 when she delivered Rhea at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center. “That day she was immediately trying to breathe on her own.”
Born three months early, Rhea weighed just 1 pound, 11 ounces and would need 15 weeks of round-the-clock care in Methodist Mansfield’s level III NICU, where her every breath and heartbeat were monitored by a staff well-trained in treating tiny patients like her.
Now home with her happy toddler, the Cedar Hill mother credits the NICU nurses and physicians like Bhavisha Bhakta Nunez, DO, OB-GYN on the medical staff at Methodist Mansfield.
“I love them. Every baby I give birth to will have to be through Methodist Mansfield,” Tiya says. “Not any other place.”
Now a toddler (right), Rhea has come a long way since her time in the NICU.
DELIVERY AT 25 WEEKS
On the day Rhea decided to enter the world, her parents hadn’t set up her nursery yet, and her mom was just becoming a little uncomfortable with her growing belly.
But Rhea — whose first name means “victory” — made her entrance on November 20, three days before Thanksgiving. And the labor and delivery team at Methodist Mansfield was ready, even if her parents were not.
“Delivery at 25 weeks happens in less than 1% of pregnancies,” says Dr. Bhakta, who has been Tiya’s OB-GYN for several years. “Thankfully, we have the resources at Methodist Mansfield, as well as a collaborative team structure.”
And while Rhea’s organs were not fully developed, Tiya was already dilated 4 centimeters. The baby was going to be born.
The Thompsons had all their fears put at ease by the NICU staff at Methodist Mansfield.
QUESTIONS ANSWERED
The pregnancy had been normal until the week of Thanksgiving, when severe abdominal pain brought Tiya to the emergency department.
The premature birth was terrifying for Tiya and her husband, Sharif, who had many questions for the staff.
During their first visit with the hospital’s NICU neonatologist, he detailed the precarious path their baby girl had in front of her. The couple appreciated his honesty and the staff’s willingness to hear out all their “Google questions.”
“That really helped my nerves,” Tiya says. “They never acted like I was asking dumb questions.”
Days after Rhea’s birth, Tiya went home and, a few weeks later, back to her job as a high school basketball coach. After work, she would visit the NICU, where she sometimes stayed past midnight, getting to know the nurses and medical staff quite well.
“They were there when I was crying, when I was happy, when I was sad,” she says. “We weren’t strangers.”
Tiya and Sharif Thompson with their daughter, Rhea, then and now
FEELING OF FAMILY
Dr. Bhakta says embracing patients with compassionate, quality healthcare is all in a day’s work at Methodist Mansfield.
“We care for our patients, and we care for each other,” she says. “The family had support from the staff and from each other, and they got to take their beautiful baby girl home.”
It’s a feeling of family that Sharif has known for years, starting with his days playing sports in high school.
“When I was in high school and got concussions playing sports, this is where I’d come,” he says. “They welcomed us then with open arms — just as they did Rhea.”
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