Coming home: How Henrico Doctors' Hospital became a safe haven during two high-risk pregnancies
When Emily Orange discovered she was pregnant with twin boys in May 2023, she knew her journey would be different, but nothing could have prepared her for what lay ahead — or for the extraordinary team at Henrico Doctors' Hospital Forest that would become like family.
At 30 weeks, Emily's blood pressure was dangerously high during a routine maternal-fetal appointment. She was admitted to the hospital's antepartum unit, where she would spend the next two weeks, including Thanksgiving, working to get her hypertension under control.
After finally being discharged, Emily made it just a week and a half at home before returning for her regular checkup. The news was devastating: one of her twins no longer had a heartbeat, and she was taken for an emergency C-section at just shy of 35 weeks.
In those incredibly difficult moments, a labor and delivery nurse made a profound difference. Though she was not assigned to Emily's room, she came to the OR because she had gotten to know Emily during her previous visits. When Emily was too distraught to hold her stillborn son, the nurse gently encouraged her to reconsider.
"She said, 'I really think you should,'" Emily recalls. "Because of her, I did, and I'm eternally grateful. I think I would have lived to regret it if I had not."
That same nurse also took the time to do a “newborn” photo shoot of Emily’s son.
"I’m so glad she did," Emily says. "Those are the only pictures we have of him."
Emily's surviving son, Keegan, spent 10 days in the NICU learning to eat and gaining strength. Today, the two-year-old is thriving in the 90th percentile for everything, standing three feet tall and weighing 34 pounds.
Emily even returned to visit the maternal-fetal team and Dr. Love, the physician who had to deliver the heartbreaking news about her twin. She wanted them to see Keegan thriving — to know their work had mattered.
"I told them, 'You guys are great, but I hope to never see you again,'" she remembers with a laugh.
When Emily discovered she was pregnant with her daughter in April 2025, returning to Henrico Doctors' Hospital Forest was an easy decision.
"The women in the antepartum unit, labor and delivery, and the NICU — I have never met such an amazing group of people," she says.
At 31 weeks, Emily's water broke, landing her back in the antepartum unit. This time felt different. Many of the same nurses were there, and they remembered her.
“When I saw her, I said, ‘Welcome home,’ because she felt more like family than just a patient,” said Ashley Palmer, a nurse at The Women’s Hospital at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital. “As a nurse here, we really do everything that we can to make our patients become more like our family.”
Knowing she would likely be a patient for an extended period, they placed her in one of the nicest, biggest rooms and prepared a “welcome back” gift bag.
The second hospitalization was less stressful, even though it lasted three weeks. Emily never developed blood pressure issues this time.
"It kind of felt almost like a homecoming," she says. "I knew what to expect. I knew the nurses. I knew how the drill went."
During this stay, Emily recognized a familiar voice when she first called to order food while admitted to the antepartum unit — it was Grace, a kind woman in the cafeteria with a grandmotherly voice whom Emily remembered from two years earlier.
But it wasn’t until after Rowan was born, when Emily was in the NICU and called to order food while sitting with her daughter, that she and Grace truly reconnected.
"That’s when we had the conversation," Emily says.
Grace went a step further — sending a guardian angel pin up with Emily’s food tray that day.
Others throughout the hospital also began recognizing Emily, greeting her by the nickname "Agent Orange," a nod to her work as a supervisor in patrol for the Henrico County Police Department.
Daughter Rowan was born at 34 weeks and spent 22 days in the NICU. Once again, the nurses went above and beyond. They placed sticky notes by Rowan's bedside with detailed feeding information, knowing that was always Emily’s first question.
"She didn't have oxygen issues or any health problems. All I cared about was how much she was eating," Emily explains. "They made sure I always had that information right there."
"They feel like my friends," Emily says. "When I finally left, I said it felt like I was moving out of my dorm freshman year and saying goodbye to all my friends."
Today, both Keegan and Rowan are healthy and thriving. Emily's experience over two pregnancies, multiple extended hospital stays, and 32 combined days in the NICU created something unexpected: a genuine bond with the Henrico Doctors' Hospital Forest team.
"I never felt alone when I was there because they made me feel like I was their friend," Emily reflects.
For Emily, the hospital did not just provide excellent medical care during two high-risk pregnancies — it provided a community that saw her, remembered her, and made her feel at home during some of the most challenging moments of her life.