Sarah Taylor was in the back of an ambulance at 34 weeks pregnant on her way to St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids. Soon she would be hour away from her home in Manchester. Sarah and her husband Dan had two previous children at the Manchester hospital with no issues, so this was new territory for the Taylors. After a few days at St. Luke’s, their daughter Charlie was born via emergency c-section. Eight minutes after birth the newborn was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Sarah remembers feeling a sense of relief when she heard about the Ronald McDonald Family Room down the hall from where Charlies was staying. “I wasn’t sure what would happen once I got discharged. The thought of not being close to her was hard to handle. Thankfully the Family Room was there for us,” said Sarah. The Taylors were able to use the sleep rooms nightly and had everything they needed right at their fingertips from toiletries like shampoo to meals ready made daily. “We were in great hands,” said Sarah.
Despite the experience of already having two children the Taylors were still nervous. The whole situation was completely out of their hands and Charlie’s NICU stay felt like it was never going to end. “Any parent could have been in our situation and the Family Room made a scary time in our lives less stressful,” said Sarah. 19 days after being born, Sarah and Dan were able to take Charlie home to meet the rest of the family. “’We were blessed that Ronald McDonald House was there for us when we needed it,” said Sarah.
