Mother with abdominal pregnancy, unborn child saved by UHealth doctors

MIAMI – Weeks after celebrating at a gender reveal party, Joy Miller and her husband John Dorvil were getting ready for the July 24 birth of their daughter. 

At the time Miller, 33, was 28 weeks along and her pregnancy had been fairly normal.

Then at the end of April the soon-to-be-mom, who is a patient care tech at Jackson Memorial Long Term Care Center, started feeling unusual movements and kicks from her unborn baby.

"I felt the baby moving a lot; her kicks were getting more aggressive every time," Miller said in a media release. "I didn't think it was normal, and I felt like the baby was trying to tell me something."

She went to  Jackson North Medical Center's emergency department to make sure the fetus was doing well and that’s when ultrasounds and MRIs, results revealed Miller's uterus had ruptured.

Miller had a condition called abdominal pregnancy, which could cause the death of the mother and unborn child if left untreated.

Miller's unborn child  was protruding through a defect in the wall of the uterus, and she was floating in her mother's abdominal wall.

When doctors found the condition they transferred Miller to The Women's Hospital at Jackson Memorial, where Dr. Salih Yasin, a University of Miami Health System obstetrician/gynecologist at Jackson who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, took over her care.

 Then on May 2, a team of UHealth and Jackson doctors preformed an emergency Cesarean section and hysterectomy.

Baby Janelle Marie Dorvil, was born weighing just 2 pounds 11 ounces.

She was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit at Holtz Children's Hospital to receive care after she was born.

  "After I woke up from my surgery, I finally got to see pictures of my baby girl and broke down in tears," Miller. said. "She saved me, and she also saved her life. I am glad I did not ignore her signs."

Miller said she’s nicknamed her daughter Miracle.

 "I'm so thankful to Dr. Yasin. He's truly a miracle worker," Miller said. "I knew that my baby and I were in the best hands."

Today, Janelle Marie weighs 4 pounds, 6 ounces, is breathing and feeding on her own, and will be able to go home Monday.