High-risk pregnancy ends with healthy baby and grateful mom

Dana Luna's son (pictured above)

Kelly Stephens, a nurse at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula’s Family Birth Center, remembers patient and colleague Dana Luna expressing uncertainty about the delivery of her baby. Complications diagnosed in pregnancy and the anticipation of a possible early birth were driving her anxiety.

Complications during pregnancy

Luna, a registered nurse in the hospital’s Emergency department, was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication characterized by symptoms including high blood pressure.

Luna says that managing her insulin, blood pressure, and stress levels while parenting, working in a demanding environment, and preparing to give birth, was asking a lot. Ultimately, Stephens says, Luna did beautifully throughout the phases of her birthing process, from admission until her sweet baby boy was in her arms.

My delivery went as well as it could have . . . He gained four pounds within two weeks and is now breastfeeding exclusively.
— Dana Luna, patient

After her usual 11 to 12 hours on her feet, Luna’s last day on the job before her maternity leave was August 19, 2024. Then, she was to rest at home — to the extent a mother of two young sons can.

On September 14, after hosting a birthday dinner for her husband, taking the dog for a walk, and caring for her two sons, Luna felt a rush of fluid but no contractions. She called the Family Birth Center and was advised to come in to assess whether her water had broken. Multiple tests confirmed it had.

Luna’s obstetrician wanted her pregnancy, ideally, to reach 36 weeks to give her baby a chance to grow. But once the baby’s heart rate started decelerating, the obstetrician on call recommended an early cesarean section, which took place 24 days ahead of her projected due date.

Difficult pregnancy results in positive outcome

“My delivery went as well as it could have,” Luna says. “We thought my son might need breathing support, but he didn’t. He was struggling with low blood sugar and difficulty eating, but the nursery placed a feeding tube and started him on fluids with sugar. He gained four pounds within two weeks and is now breastfeeding exclusively.”

Her baby, Luna says, is as healthy as can be.

The Family Birth Center is a designated Baby-Friendly Hospital, conferred by Baby-Friendly USA, an initiative launched in 1991 by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund to help mothers successfully begin and continue breastfeeding their newborns.

The center, which performs about 100 deliveries per month, is also a level II specialty care nursery, meaning it’s equipped to provide intensive care for sick and premature infants born as early as 32 weeks and weighing as little as 3.3 pounds.

A peaceful birthing environment

Designed to foster a peaceful, supportive birthing experience, the Family Birth Center creates a positive environment with:

• Private rooms
• Custom comfort measures
• Varying pain management options
• Skilled, kind, caring, and attentive staff

All of which, Luna says, were extremely helpful in bringing peace to such a stressful delivery.

After delivery, staff members provide breastfeeding support and encourage skin-to-skin contact between baby and parents immediately following births without complication.

“Our website also is a huge resource we lean on to advocate for our patients,” Stephens says. “It gives them insight into the Family Birth Center and what to anticipate in the birthing experience and once they return home with their newborn.”

Learn about the Family Birth Center