On March 12, 2012, baby boy Pearson was born weighing 8lb 6oz and measuring 21” long to the delight of his first-time parents, Josh and Meredith Jarrell. After nine highly anticipated and uneventful months, he entered the world as the picture of health.

Just hours after his birth, while Pearson lay swaddled in his nursery bassinet, a nurse noticed that he had a high-pitched cry. Concerned that this could be a symptom of a medical condition, the care team asked the couple for permission to draw his blood to check for any underlying medical conditions.

Meredith says, “We trusted [our care team] and agreed to having his blood drawn.”

Following the results of the blood draw, the care team had cause for alarm, so they asked the family if they could order a lumbar puncture. To the couple’s surprise, the care team determined that Pearson had a potentially fatal group B streptococcal bacterial infection — meningitis.

A high-pitched cry had been the only symptom for this child who appeared deceptively healthy. What’s more, while Pearson was still in utero, his mother had tested negative for group B strep at her OB-GYN appointment. Yet, somewhere along the way that changed. Because of the keen awareness of this nurse, the infection was caught quickly.

After diagnosis, when baby Pearson was just three days old, the care team determined that it would be best if he was transferred to WakeMed Children’s Hospital.

Meredith says, “They thought WakeMed was better equipped to handle Pearson’s care and that transferring him to the WakeMed PICU would allow my husband and I to stay in the room with him.”

Still reeling from the shocking news, Josh and Meredith received more sobering details from their son’s neonatologist about Pearson’s likely outcomes.

Meredith says, “We had just seen our son transferred to WakeMed when the neonatologist sat us down to discuss possible outcomes. Because bacterial meningitis causes inflammation in the brain, we were told that if he survived, there would be long-term effects that could include blindness, deafness, cognitive impairment and cerebral palsy.”

An Introduction to WakeMed Children’s Hospital and Our Care that Never Quits

Josh and Meredith were understandably distraught but soon felt a sense of comfort upon their arrival to their son’s PICU room at WakeMed Children’s where the care team was already waiting for them.

Meredith says, “We were told that the plan was to continue the antibiotic [he’d been started on at the other hospital], wean him off oxygen and get him feeding without a feeding tube.”

Additionally, their son was placed under the watchful care of an expert neonatologist who would guide his overall medical care; a respiratory disease therapist, equipped with a feeding plan; a physical therapist assigned to assess Pearson’s muscle strength throughout his stay; and a speech language pathologist to support suck/swallow reflexes, so Pearson could begin efforts to nurse as soon as possible.

The family also recalls the other members of the team who helped put them at ease. Meredith says, “While this was a stressful time, the nursing staff tried to make it as normal as possible for us. They helped me maneuver Pearson and his IVs into some of the clothes we had brought. They let me help give him his first bath. They made sure that even though I wasn’t a patient and didn’t deliver Pearson there, that meals were brought to me since I was pumping/nursing. They made sure we had access to the WakeMed Mothers’ Milk Bank while we supplemented his feeds. We kept March Madness basketball on the TV and plenty of candy around to solidify him as their favorite patient.”

Following a week of regimented care, Pearson was taken off of oxygen as he began to improve. Just two days later, he was removed from monitors. Since he responded so well to treatment, he stayed in the hospital just long enough to finish his antibiotics and was released to go home with his parents after two weeks in the WakeMed PICU.

Follow-up Care