The mother of a critically ill baby transferred from Corpus Christi to North Texas to avoid Hurricane Harvey is sharing how their story of survival could change the course of her daughter's life.
The fight to survive began the moment baby Sophia was born.
Itzel Gutierrez gave birth at 33 weeks gestation at a Laredo hospital.
"She couldn't breathe. They, in Laredo, couldn't figure it out why she couldn't breathe," Gutierrez said.
She says they were referred to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi for treatment of Sophia's respiratory condition. Then, on Thursday, with Harvey approaching the coast, plans for surgery were put on hold.
"They told me there was a hurricane," Gutierrez said. "I was scared, because I was like, 'Where's my daughter going to go?'"
Sophia was among 10 babies in neonatal intensive care transported from Corpus Christi to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth.
All 10 babies arrived through a transportation effort that involved four planes from three different hospitals – Cook Children's Teddy Bear Transport, Driscoll Children's and two aircraft from Children's Health in Dallas.
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Harvey's first evacuees were transported to safety in North Texas throughout the night. The entire airlift took about 18 hours.
Because of the staff and equipment required to take care of the babies transported back to Fort Worth, most parents weren't allowed to travel with their children.
Gutierrez drove seven-and-a-half hours to arrive in Fort Worth by Saturday night.
"Just to hold my baby. I just want to go home with her. I just want her to be healthy, and I want to go home with her," Gutierrez said, describing the emotion.
She says in the short time she's been at Cook Children's, she's learned Sophia may not need surgery after all.
"I feel like God is with me. God is helping me," she said.
Some families weren't able to travel, and they haven't seen their babies since they were brought to North Texas. But some of the babies could be transported back to Corpus Christi as soon as Wednesday.
