FAMILY & HOME
MEET BABY RAINE,
A FERGUSON MIRACLE
By ERIN WILLIAMS
Michelle Ringo was five months pregnant
when her normal environment became a
literal war zone on August 10, 2014 - the
day after Michael Brown Jr. was fatally
shot in Ferguson, less than two miles from
Michelle’s home.
“Every night we would hear the helicopters and
sirens, and having that stress along with being
pregnant was kind of overwhelming,” said
Michelle, who lives with her husband and son
in a “typically quiet” Dellwood neighborhood.
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Her last pregnancy, nine years prior with the
birth of her son, was met with complications
of high blood pressure and the risk of being
diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. But her
previous pregnancy could not have prepared
her for the days ahead.
“There’s just something about helicopters
flying over your house every night; a couple
of mornings when I took my son to school the
tear gas was still in the air. It would strangle
us a little bit,” she remembers of the drastic
measures taken by the police force – and
eventually the National Guard – to regain
control in the Ferguson community. “My son
GAZELLE STL
is eight, and one day he told me he was afraid
of the police. Everything was stressing me out.
I’ve been on high blood pressure medication
since I was eighteen. Sometimes when I know
I’m getting stressed, I can feel it - and I can
honestly say that I felt that stress.”
The turning point came on September 8
when after dinner with her husband, Michelle
experienced intense heartburn. “I was up all
night walking around the house; that’s how
bad it hurt,” she said. The next day, she took
her son to school and got in touch with her
doctor - two days prior to her next scheduled
appointment - who advised her to come in for a
checkup. She had already planned to talk to her
doctor about the stress she had been feeling.
At 210/140, her blood pressure was so high
that she was admitted to Mercy Hospital
that afternoon - but wasn’t allowed to drive
herself for fear she would have a seizure.
“The crazy thing about it was I was
congested, I was uncomfortable, but I wasn’t
miserable to where I felt like I needed dire
medical attention,” she said. “Everybody was
worried about me, but I didn’t feel that bad.”
Additional blood work taken later that day
revealed that Michelle’s liver was beginning
to fail and that all of the ailments she had
been battling (heartburn, cold symptoms,
swelling) were due to an illness developed by
pregnant women called HELLP syndrome.
“The side effects are so similar to other
problems, that most women don’t recognize
that’s what it is. They just think they’re
pregnant, and they don’t feel well - and that’s
all I thought it was,” she said.
The only cure? Delivering her baby.
Within twenty minutes, Michelle was
prepped for an emergency C-section, and
delivered her daughter, Raine, the evening of
September 9 at one pound, thirteen ounces,
twelve weeks before her due date.
“I was terrified that she would come out, and
I wouldn’t hear anything, and she wouldn’t
be breathing, but she was crying,” said
Michelle. “She is a fighter.”
After a three-month stay in the hospital,