A physician couple travels from Africa to deliver their babies at Via Christi

Since moving to West Africa in 2020, doctors Ryan and Chelsea Porter return to the U.S. every couple of years to visit loved ones, friends and their Wichita, Kansas, church family, and to connect with people who support their mission work in the Sahara. The couple planned the timing of their stateside visits to coincide with Chelsea’s pregnancy due dates. The Porters chose to deliver their babies at Via Christi St. Joseph in Wichita, because they knew and trusted the NewLife Center’s obstetric providers.

Chelsea is a 2019 graduate of the Via Christi Family Medicine Residency Program and she trained alongside Via Christi’s laborists who specialize in caring for women in labor and delivering babies. Ryan served at St. Joseph as a hospitalist.

“Knowing that there's a group of very compassionate laborists on staff is one of those things that just brings you peace,” said Chelsea.

When the family planned their return to Wichita to deliver their first child at Via Christi St. Joseph in June 2022, they never imagined Chelsea would require an emergency cesarean (C-section) delivery. Due to a placental abruption during labor, their baby was “white as a sheet” upon birth and needed resuscitation. Their newborn daughter would spend five days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

A placental abruption is a severe pregnancy complication when the placenta separates from the uterine wall.

“The NICU staff was amazing,” said Chelsea. “They answered all of our questions, they were very attentive. We knew we were in very good hands.”

Ryan agreed. “Our first time meeting them was when they had to save our daughter's life, when she was born and she wasn't breathing,” he said.

Then this January, the Porters found themselves in a similar situation at Via Christi with the delivery of their son. Due to a diagnosis of severe preeclampsia – a serious pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure and protein in the urine – Chelsea consulted with Michael Wolfe, MD, a maternal and fetal medicine specialist with Ascension Medical Group Via Christi in Wichita. 

“Dr. Wolfe helps me with my patients in Africa a lot, but he'd also been helping me long-distance with my pregnancy because I'm 36, so I’m considered advanced maternal age,” Chelsea said.

Following evaluation with Dr. Wolfe on the morning of Jan. 9, Chelsea delivered early at 34 weeks through a scheduled C-section that evening. This prevented serious complications for both mother and baby, and their infant son was cared for in the NICU for eight days.

The Porters’ positive first experience with their daughter in Via Christi’s Level III NICU, which is dedicated to caring for critically ill and premature newborns, provided reassurance when it came to knowing how their son would be cared for. Ryan said they knew their son’s caregivers were going to do everything necessary to support their baby.

“You still worry about how your child is going to do, but knowing that there's a good, compassionate staff, and great doctors, we didn't have to worry,” he said.

Good fortune had Via Christi laborist Dr. Leah Brantley perform both C-sections, Chelsea recalled. “She delivered both of my children and she just happened to be on call,” Chelsea said. “I believe that God just put her here. She's a very calming presence and absolutely fantastic at her job.”

Because their son was born six weeks early, he required specialized care for eight days in the NICU. Like his sister two years prior, the baby boy received the focused attention needed to grow stronger before going home. Reassuring amenities such as the AngelEyes® CameraSystem™, made possible by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals at Ascension Via Christi, allowed the Porters to remotely view their baby 24/7, whenever they could not be at the hospital.

“The whole OB, labor and delivery, postpartum and NICU team, it's just unlike anything that I've seen,” said Chelsea. “I trust the care that's given there. I couldn't imagine going anywhere else.”

Soon the family will head back home to Africa with both children healthy and thriving. The Porters are not planning on having more kids, but if they do, they said they would come back to Via Christi.

“No one wants to have to go through this, let alone twice,” said Ryan. “But it makes it much easier and seem doable when you have such a good team of providers here.”

Learn more about personalized labor, delivery and postpartum care, including specialized care at Via Christi’s Level III NICU, at Via Christi St. Joseph NewLife Center in Wichita.