Pictured: Megan and Bailey Stillman with their daughter, Perry.
When Megan and Bailey Stillman learned they were expecting their first child, the couple imagined the journey unfolding close to home. Bailey had grown up in Bar Harbor, Megan in Brewer, and together, they had built their life on Mount Desert Island. Megan was already an established OB patient at MDI Hospital when, at around 20 weeks pregnant, the Stillmans received the news that the labor and delivery unit would be closing.
“We were disappointed,” Megan recalled. “There were a lot of unknowns. I was established here, so it was hard not to feel nervous. But I trusted everyone at Lisa Stewart Women’s Health Center, and in the end, I wouldn’t have changed anything about our experience.”
The couple went to all the community meetings and events following the closure, wanting to voice their concern and learn all they could. But as their pregnancy went on, they began to see a new picture of what their journey could look like.
Megan continued her prenatal care on the island and only traveled to Bangor three times as she neared her due date. “The transferring was what I was the most nervous about,” she said. “But it was fine, really easy actually. I was able to access my care team here throughout my entire pregnancy for prenatal appointments and now all our appointments with our daughter Perry.”
Integral to this new model of care is that pregnant women on MDI can see their OB provider at Lisa Stewart Women’s Health Center until delivery, making appointments towards the end of their pregnancy to establish care at the facility where they choose to deliver. Women who are experiencing pregnancy related emergencies on MDI can, and should, still come to MDI Hospital’s Emergency Department for evaluation and stabilization. They can also contact their provider with questions at any time throughout their pregnancy. Complex pregnancies are referred to other facilities earlier, as they would have been under the previous OB model, in order to access specialists and providers with high-risk OB experience.
When the time came to deliver, Megan and Bailey headed up to Bangor. Bailey admitted he had fears at first. “We had never been on the hospital side at Northern Light before, and we thought we might just be another number being that it’s such a large hospital, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.”
“At the end of the day, we’re in Maine,” Megan added. “It’s always going to have that small-town feel.” In fact, one of her nurses had gone to high school with her mother. Another used to work at MDI Hospital. The attending physician was MDI Hospital OB Doctor, Sveva Brown’s husband. “It felt familiar in ways we didn’t expect,” she said, “And it was really comforting.” The couple spoke highly of every nurse and doctor they encountered during their stay at Northern Light; for the two, it became very clear that labor and delivery nurses and providers get into this line of work for a reason.
The Stillmans spent three days in the hospital in Bangor. On the day their daughter Perry was born, nine other babies shared the nursery, but Megan and Bailey said they never would have known. “It was so quiet and peaceful.” Megan said. Bailey echoed that sentiment saying, “We had incredible views of the river, and every nurse and doctor took their time with us. They reassured us, they doted on Megan, it was really great.”
Being there also gave them a new understanding of reasons for the labor and delivery closure back home. “While we were in Bangor, we gained a lot of perspective that we are so grateful for,” Bailey said. “In August alone, there were something like 150 babies born at Northern Light [Bangor]. The doctors and nurses talked about how important that kind of volume was for patient safety, and when we were there, experiencing it first-hand, we got it.”
Coming home was just as meaningful for the new family of three. “We were discharged on a Sunday, and by Monday we were at Cadillac Family Practice,” Bailey said. “The same health center I went to growing up.”
“It was amazing to come back and see Ellen and Dr. Gassman, and to introduce them to our baby,” Megan added. Looking down at Perry sleeping in her arms recounting this story, she smiled and said, “That was really incredible.”
“I still remember how excited I was knowing we were going to have the opportunity to meet sweet Perry and reconnect with Megan and Bailey,” Ellen DaCorte, Women’s Health Nurse Navigator recalls. “Hearing about their amazing and seamless birth experience was truly heartwarming! It’s always a great day when we welcome families like the Stillmans back to our local clinic.” Ellen continued, emphasizing the importance of having this kind of care locally saying, “Being able to support and provide the necessary assessments close to home in this postpartum period is so incredibly valuable as we aim to make sure both parents and babies get the best start possible.”
Now, with their beautiful little girl, Bailey and Megan feel nothing but gratitude. “I hope everyone can rally around what we do have here on the island because it’s really great,” Bailey said. “We went to all the town meetings, we were concerned about the closure, but we would not change a single thing about our experience here or our time up in Bangor.”
Megan agreed. “I wouldn’t change a thing. Knowing all the resources were right there during delivery, and our care team was back home waiting for us, made it really special.”
Megan and Bailey hope that by sharing their story, they can help alleviate any fear or trepidation that other young families on the island might be feeling following the labor and delivery closure. “Especially being first-time parents, there are so many unknowns. But knowing Ellen, Dr. Gassman, Dr. Brown, and everyone at Lisa Stewart was here for us, it was incredible. We can’t thank them enough.”
