WELLS, Maine — Megan Robichaud of Wells is lucky to be alive, and even luckier to be a mom to her 17-month-old son, Kai.
She and Kai were both in a fight for their lives on the evening of Sept. 22, 2013, when at 26 weeks pregnant, Robichaud suffered placental abruption and began to bleed profusely.
When Wells emergency responders transported Robichaud to Maine Medical Center in Portland, they all assumed the baby wouldn’t make it. According to dispatcher Saundra Skoczen, who took the call that evening, they don’t often find out the outcome of their calls, and in this case everyone assumed the worst.
But on Feb. 17 at the Wells Activity Center, Skoczen and the other first responders that September night more than one year ago got to meet Robichaud and baby Kai. It turned out that Kai was born later that night via emergency Caesarean section, weighing just 1 pound 4 ounces.
But he was very much alive, thanks to the care given by Wells Emergency Medical Services and the Wells Police Department. Robichaud said the doctors told her if she had arrived at the hospital even a minute later, Kai would not have survived.
“It’s because of you that I’m a mother,” Robichaud said, overcome with emotion as she thanked those first responders. “You’re the reason Kai is here.”
Wells Emergency Medical Technician Bruce Ricker said as first responders they don’t always get to see the outcome.
“It’s really great to meet him,” he said of Kai.
Skoczen arranged the party after Robichaud reached out to her on the department’s Facebook page. Skoczen, who manages the page, posted a link to the York County Coast Star’s Movers and Shakers article profiling the Wells EMS department back in January, and it caught Robichaud’s eye.
“I will forever be grateful to the WEMS. They saved me and got me to the hospital in time to save my son. I was only 26 weeks pregnant. We are both here today because we received great first responder care. Thank you for all that you do,” Robichaud commented on the post.
Ricker and fellow EMT Jason Porter were both on the call that night, and both predicted a very different outcome.
“For all we knew, she miscarried,” Ricker said. “We’re used to not knowing the outcome. But meeting him tonight, and seeing that the things we do make a difference, that’s nice to hear.”
Skoczen said there’s a bit of a baby boom in the Wells police and EMS departments these days, with lots of little ones having just arrived or on the way. She said meeting Kai and Robichaud has special meaning for them all.
Kai was in the hospital for five months. Feb. 10 was the one-year anniversary of his arrival home, and during that year, miraculously, he had no hospitalizations. It was a tough year for both mother and son, as Kai was slowly weaned off all but two of his eight medications and several monitors. Robichaud said her son is starting to crawl, and has no lasting medical conditions.
“He’s so happy, he loves life, he loves people, and he never cries,” she said.
Tuesday evening he flashed smiles all around to everyone he met, saving his biggest one for the toy police car WPD and WEMS gave to him.
The departments also donated two large gift baskets full of board books and receiving blankets to the Maine Medical Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Kai’s name. Robichaud is on the NICU advisory board, and she said baby board books and receiving blankets are always in need. She said that when Kai was in the NICU, the color of a receiving blanket was the only thing she had a choice in for her baby.
“Other moms get to dress their baby, and pick out their clothes. All I could do was choose a blanket, and that meant so much to me,” she said.
Kai’s father, Sean Petrus, a sous chef at David’s KPT in Kennebunkport, felt helpless when his tiny son was in a NICU isolette, but Robichaud said it calmed both she and the baby down when Petrus would read a book to him.
“It would just melt my heart,” she said. “It’s a way for parents to communicate with their tiny baby that they can’t even hold sometimes.”
Kai made the rounds at Tuesday night’s gathering, snuggling in his mother’s arms and playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake with the EMTs and police officers sharing in the celebration.
Those who played a part in saving his life that night said they could see that their long hours of training and devoted service were worthwhile, especially when they looked into the big brown eyes and heard the sweet giggles of a little boy, and saw the grateful mom who was counting on them.
“It makes a difference when you get to see this,” Porter said. “It’s moments like this that justify all the sacrifices we make, being away from our own families.”