When Shawn and Ashley were expecting their sixth baby, they faced complications no parents expect. Despite normal growth throughout her first trimester, Ashley’s water broke prematurely at just 17 weeks. This left baby Myah with little to no amniotic fluid and serious risks, including infection, preterm labor and underdeveloped lungs.
Ashley and Shawn were told by a perinatal clinic close to home that their baby might not survive. But Ashley and Shawn were not ready to give up hope.
“We just prayed and prayed and prayed,” Ashley said.
Seeking a second opinion
Encouraged to seek a second opinion by their friends and family, Ashley and Shawn came to Children’s Minnesota, where they met Tara Zamora, MD, a neonatologist. Dr. Zamora recommended that they hope and wait to make it past the next few weeks in order to safely deliver.
Shawn and Ashley spent the next few weeks at home, praying for a healthy pregnancy. She spent that time on bed rest, praying to stay pregnant. They held onto hope while trying to let Myah grow strong enough, knowing a premature birth without amniotic fluid was incredibly risky. Ashley was admitted to The Mother Baby Center, a partnership between Allina Health and Children’s Minnesota, in Minneapolis at 22 weeks.
Meeting Myah
At 24 weeks, Ashley went into preterm labor after developing an infection. Myah was breech, meaning she was facing the wrong way when Ashley went into labor, so Ashley needed an emergency c-section. Before delivery, Jennifer Berger, MD, Children’s Minnesota neonatologist, came into the operating room and held Ashley’s hand.
“She said, ‘We are going to take such good care of your baby girl,’” Ashley said. “I just felt total peace that they were going to do everything they could.”
Myah was born on Feb. 12, 2025, weighing just 1 pound, 4 ounces. When babies are born prematurely, one of the biggest concerns is their lung development. Due to her prematurity and the early loss of fluid around her, Myah’s lungs had not yet developed fully. She wasn’t breathing and needed immediate support from the Children’s Minnesota neonatal team. In her first days and weeks, Myah faced collapsed lungs, infections, sepsis and prolonged respiratory support, but she kept fighting.
“One of the doctors told Shawn, ‘You need to be thankful you have this feisty fighter of a little girl,’” Ashley said. “That carried through her whole stay.”
For 175 days, Myah’s care team helped her grow stronger. She received lifesaving respiratory care, developmental support, occupational and physical therapy, and routine eye care for retinopathy of prematurity, a disease that causes abnormal blood vessels to grow in the retina, which can lead to vision loss.
Myah grew exponentially in her time in the hospital and went home earlier than expected. Even though they expected to stay in the hospital for a year based on Myah’s complications, she was discharged at only six months. During her time at Children’s Minnesota, she picked up the nickname Miracle Myah.
Gratitude in the hospital
Ashley remembers being amazed by the expertise and compassion of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) team.
“The ability to place chest tubes and PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) lines in a baby that small is lifesaving,” Ashley said. “It gave me a whole new respect for what they do.”
The family also felt supported beyond Myah’s medical care. With five other children at home, Shawn and Ashley relied on Myah’s nurses, child life specialists, the Family Resource Center, the sibling play area, the Ronald McDonald House, Jesus, friends and family to help them through a long and difficult hospital stay.
“Myah’s outcome is extraordinary in the face of the risk of her early delivery,” said Dr. Zamora. “It took very specialized staff to care for Myah. I’m constantly impressed by the intricacy and intention at which these teams function to support our most vulnerable patients.”
Shawn and Ashley especially remember Myah’s primary nurse, Emily Petermeier.
“She was our angel,” Ashley said. “She went above and beyond in everything she did for Myah.”
Thriving at home
Today, Myah is thriving. At 19 months old she is healthy, happy and full of personality. She loves food, laughs often, plays with her siblings, walks, runs, and loves to talk and sing her ABCs.
Ashley calls her feisty, fearless and a “spitfire.” “She’s 100% normal,” Ashley said. “You would never know she had such a rocky beginning.”
Myah has no heart issues, no lung issues, no feeding issues and no cognitive delays. For Ashley and Shawn, Myah will always be their miracle.
“We call her our Miracle Myah,” her parents said. “How God used the people at Children’s Minnesota to give us a healthy, flourishing baby is something we’ll be forever grateful for.”
Myah’s beginning was fragile, but her story is one of strength, expert care and hope. Today, she is growing, thriving and showing everyone the spirit that helped her fight from the very beginning.
