Smyrna couple Torri and Alex Deason thought they were alone in the world when their daughter Wynnie was born after just 23 weeks in December 2022.
Wynnie weighed only 15 ounces and could fit in the palm of her parents’ hand. Prior to the birth, Torri Deason, 32, began experiencing unusual symptoms during early stages of her pregnancy, including high blood pressure and chest pains.
When she first arrived at Northside Hospital Atlanta at 10:20 a.m. on Dec. 5, 2022, Deason learned she was suffering from HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelet count) syndrome, a life-threatening pregnancy complication. Immediately after this discovery, doctors made the decision to deliver the baby.
Wynnie was born that day at 6 p.m.
“I felt like my adrenaline took over and (my body) was like, ‘We have to do what we have to do,’” Torri Deason said. “With HELLP Syndrome, the answer is delivery. You can’t take any medicine ... the baby needs to come out.”
It was discovered that Wynnie was suffering from intrauterine growth restriction, a condition where the placenta was not providing enough nutrients for Wynnie to grow healthily.
Mirrored experience
With these unusual circumstances, the Deasons felt as though they had no one to turn to. But unbeknownst to them, just three weeks earlier, in the exact same hospital, Lawrenceville couple Love and Teddy Dacius went through an eerily similar experience.
On Nov. 18, 2022, the couple gave birth to their first child, Royal, after 25 weeks. She weighed only 1 pound, 1 ounce, and much like Wynnie, the Daciuses said they could hold their daughter in the palm of their hand.
Love Dacius, 29, experienced high blood pressure, swollen legs and shortness of breath during her pregnancy. As a registered nurse, Dacius said she frequently monitored the signs she was experiencing, and knew something was not right. She was hospitalized for two weeks before doctors decided she needed to give birth.
“I had this perfect image of being full-term,” Dacius said. “You have plans for yourself as a woman of how you want your first birth to be, and it’s just going into a different light.”
After they were born, both babies were transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the hospital, where they were put on ventilators to help them breathe. Both spent the first few months of their lives at Northside before transferring to the NICU at Children’s Scottish Rite Hospital in Sandy Springs.
Shortly after giving birth, both couples began noticing other similarities between their children when visiting them in the NICU.
“I swear ... their souls connected as soon as they came out of our bodies,” Torri Deason said. “They would play with each other, it was the weirdest thing.”
Located across from each other in the unit, the two began almost mirroring each other’s personalities.
“I remember a nurse (saying), ‘Royal and Wynnie, they’re like twins,” Dacius said. “When Wynnie acts up, Royal acts up. It’s like they’re communicating with each other.”
The two mothers then began exchanging notes and paintings with each other to keep their spirits up. After meeting in person, they frequently discussed their situations, treatment options and offered each other advice.
“It really shows that you’re not alone,” said Royal’s father, Teddy Dacius. “Oftentimes, you find yourself in certain circumstances ... and you think you’re the only one going through it. Just to have that backup (and) support system, it was really, really cool.”
In total, Royal and Wynnie spent a combined 25 months in the NICU at both facilities.
During their treatment, both children were diagnosed with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a chronic lung disease described as the infants’ lungs not fully developing due to their premature births. According to Melanie Granier, Wynnie’s primary nurse at Scottish Rite, the disease can occur due to the ventilators giving the infants too much air for their lungs to handle, despite giving the lowest amount of air possible.
“They get sick from having to deal with the high pressures of the ventilators that have to keep them alive ... when they’re born prematurely,” Granier said.
Granier described the treatment process for Wynnie as very delicate, with minimal contact to avoid making her more sick.
Despite their isolation in the NICU, Royal and Wynnie’s mirroring continued after receiving their diagnoses. When Wynnie was transferred to Scottish Rite in May 2023 to undergo a tracheostomy, Royal soon followed the next month. The procedure requires surgically implanting a tube through the trachea into the lungs to allow an alternate airway for breathing.
Through their shared experiences, the families formed a bond that has grown into a lasting friendship.
“Having (the Daciuses) as an outlet, and somebody who truly gets it is so amazing,” Deason said. “There’s a lot of mothers out there ... that are alone in the NICU and don’t have that connect that I have with Love.”
‘A dream come true’
After 308 days in the NICU, Wynnie was discharged from the hospital and allowed go home on Oct. 11, 2023.
Granier, the nurse, said Wynnie’s release from Scottish Rite was exhilarating, a sign of a job well-done by the medical staff.
“The day she went home, it just felt like a huge accomplishment for all of us,” Granier said.
When Royal was finally discharged from the NICU in April after 524 days, Wynnie and the Deasons were right there to cheer her on.
The Daciuses called the experience of taking their baby home as a blessing.
“Just to see her from where she started to where she is now is just a beautiful thing to see,” Teddy Dacius said. “We dreamed of getting to this point, so to actually see it in real life, it’s really a dream come true.”
Beyond the tracheostomy, treatment for bronchopulmonary dysplasia requires time and oxygen to let the lungs heal and grow, according to Love Dacius.
Since being released, Wynnie has been approved by doctors to only use a ventilator at night when she sleeps, while Royal is working toward this milestone.
“Time will help her heal,” Love Dacius said of her daughter. “Her lungs might be premature, but eventually her lungs are going to grow and all the bad cells will go away.”
In time, both families hope to one day have their babies’ trach tubes removed for them to breathe completely on their own.
Deason said she and Dacius still talk every day. They are practically family.
“They will be in our lives for the rest of our lives,” Deason said. “(Love) is like a sister to me, she is a soulmate, a mother-mate ... She is one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever known, one of the greatest mothers I’ve ever known.”
