PRESTONSBURG, Ky. – At 35 years old, with two miscarriages and significant medical issues in her past, Flatgap, Ky., resident Morgan Cole wasn’t sure she would ever carry a child to term.

She and her husband Tim were still reeling from a December 2022 miscarriage, when just a few months later, they learned they had another chance.

“When we found out we were pregnant with our Rainbow Baby, Eliza Hope, we were both extremely hesitant about becoming excited, and we had a pact that we would just take the pregnancy day-by-day,” she recalled.

At the 20-week mark, Morgan allowed herself to feel hope. Ten weeks later, she got excited.

“When we hit 30 weeks and I knew she could survive, I really started planning her delivery and I got more excited than I ever thought I could,” she said.

On May 23, 2024, at her 34-week appointment, as Morgan lay in bed with monitors strapped around her waist, she and Tim began to talk about what they’d like to have for lunch.

That plan changed, however, when OB/GYN Sammie Gibson, who the couple had met at church two years earlier, advised them to head instead to Highlands ARH Regional Medical Center for a few hours of monitoring.

“I was apparently having contractions and each time I did, Eliza’s heart rate would drop,” Morgan explained.

With both her past and future on her mind, Morgan worried about her unborn daughter, but as the evening progressed, she said everything on the monitors looked promising.

“That was until 7 a.m., while we were sleeping,” Morgan said. “The way it was explained to me was I had a fairly strong contraction and Eliza’s heart rate bottomed out.”

The NICU at Highlands was weeks away from its official ribbon cutting, and Morgan’s provider initially discussed sending her to Lexington or Huntington, as delivery was imminent.

When the situation became emergent, however, it was decided Morgan would remain at Highlands and undergo a C-section.

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On May 24, 2024, Eliza Hope Cole became the first baby treated at Highlands ARH’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The six-bed Level 2 NICU provides care for moderately sick infants – typically born between 32- and 35-weeks’ gestation and 3.3 lbs. – expected to improve quickly. In addition to the NICU, Highlands’ also features a newly renovated obstetrics unit which includes an updated infant security system, modernized patient rooms, two nearby OR rooms and a dedicated lactation room.

Prior to the construction, families were forced to travel distances for their newborns to receive NICU care.

The convenience of Highlands, Morgan said, helped lessen a bit of the stress she and her husband experienced during Eliza’s first days.

Morgan, who credits her doctors, nurses and the staff at the “Grand ARH Hotel” for ushering her long-awaited Rainbow Baby into the world, said the delivery was “the best experience any emergency C-section could be.”

Though able to breathe on her own, Eliza spent 12 days in the NICU, as she received IV fluids and was briefly placed on a feeding tube to help her regain weight.

Morgan herself was readmitted during Eliza’s stay, as she was treated for postpartum preeclampsia.

Despite the worry and stress, Morgan said she always felt as though Eliza was in the best hands possible.

“I am so thankful that God not only blessed my husband and I by putting us in church with the most amazing OB/GYN, but He also supplied the NICU we needed only 20 minutes from our home,” she said.

Eliza, now 7 months, is thriving and, Morgan said, “rules” the home she shares with her parents and three half-siblings, Ryan, 12, and twins Andrew and Audrey, 9.

“Our first real photo is Eliza’s older siblings on FaceTime with the phone on her bed and Tim and I on either side of her,” Morgan said, adding the photo was taken by a nurse in the NICU.

“Everyone was so kind,” she said. “I just thank God for putting us right where He did, when He did.”

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Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH), is a not-for-profit health system operating 14 hospitals in Barbourville, Hazard, Harlan, Hyden, Martin, McDowell, Middlesboro, Paintsville, Prestonsburg, West Liberty, Whitesburg, and South Williamson in Kentucky and Beckley and Hinton in West Virginia, as well as multi-specialty physician practices, home health agencies, home medical equipment stores and retail pharmacies and medical spas. ARH employs approximately 6,400 people with an annual payroll and benefits of $474 million generated into our local economies. ARH also has a network of more than 1,300 providers on staff across its multi-state system. ARH is the largest provider of care and the single largst employer in southeastern Kentucky, and the third-largest private employer in southern West Virginia