Seven months into her second pregnancy, Karine Jonglez received scary news: she had developed preeclampsia, a condition consisting of high blood pressure and signs of organ damage that usually occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and needed serious medical attention. Now, almost a decade later, Karine and her son David are happy, healthy, and stronger than ever.
Already a mother to one wonderful child, Karine Jonglez had experience that helped her navigate her second pregnancy with ease. “It was very sudden and unexpected, as my severe preeclampsia was diagnosed during a routine pregnancy check,” Karine recalls.
With no record of this condition in her family history, Karine was shocked to learn that now she and her child needed medical care. “I didn’t want to believe it at first but very fast was thrown into test after test and quickly understood that things were about to change quickly.”
As her family navigated the stress and surprise of her recent diagnosis, NewYork-Presbyterian was there to support them. “Once the initial shock passed, my brain protected me and all my energy went into thinking about David and trusting he was going to be OK,” Karine says.
David was born two months early, so tiny he had to receive steroid shots to boost lung growth. He spent five weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, under careful and constant supervision by a multidisciplinary team.
“When David was in the NICU, I remember seeing the pictures of the premature kids on the wall, the ones who had written years after that today things were going very well, and these pictures were my silver lining,” Karine says. “We were never made to feel as if we would get a bad surprise. That helped us focus on the bonding and healing. Instead of hammering us with statistics and health data points when we would come in the morning, the nursing team would always focus on David’s personality, sharing little jokes with us. The teams at the hospital do fabulous work. They deserve recognition and support.”
Today, David, 8, is an outgoing multilingual star student and baseball fan. “As a super extrovert, he always has something to say and is highly funny and creative,” Karine says. “The phrase I heard the most was how strong of a personality he had, and that they could not believe such a tiny baby could scream so loudly when he was hungry. Turned out he still knows how to be very clear—and loud—when his needs are not met!”
For David, his story is a point of pride. “It’s his superpower,” Karine says. “He talks all the time, is caring, and has an unlimited reservoir of energy.”
When Karine told David that she was being interviewed about their experience, he asked, “Are you going to tell my story so that mommies and babies at the hospital can see that you can be OK?”
“My dad has always told me ‘the worst is never certain,’” Karine says. “Every moment counts, small or big, and we have way more resilience than we think.”