Baby continues to fight for life

Infant born after deadly wreck still in neonatal intensive care

Photo Provided Kaydence Allissa Ann Geddings was born via emergency Caesarean section following the Aug. 20 wreck that killed her mother, Nikki Geddings. Kaydence remains in the neonatal intensive care unit at Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia.

By ANNABELLE ROBERTSON
Item Staff Writer
arobertson@theitem.com

A Sumter baby rescued from her mother's womb after a deadly wreck continues to fight for survival.

At just 26 weeks in utero, Kaydence Allissa Ann Geddings was born via emergency Caesarean section following the Aug. 20 wreck that killed her mother, Nikki Geddings, 19.

Approximately one week later, doctors discovered a brain hemorrage. The injury, said grandparents Ricky and Missy Geddings, was most likely caused by the wreck.

The infant underwent a second emergency surgery to repair a torn membrane. Before operating, doctors told the Geddings that she would probably die. They gave her a mere 1 to 2 percent chance of survival.

Friends and family began praying.

Kaydence lived.

Last month, she underwent a second brain surgery. Doctors placed a shunt on the right side of her head to drain excess fluid. She remains in the neonatal intensive care unit at Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia.

The Geddings, who have been living at the Ronald McDonald house in Columbia since the wreck, have been feeding the infant at two to three-hour intervals, around the clock.

"We've watched her grow," said Missy Geddings. "We've been here every day of her life."

According to Ricky Geddings, Kaydence is definitely improving.

"She's sucking her bottles, but she's slow," he said. "And she only sucks from me and Missy. She just stares at us, with those little bitty eyes. She knows us. And she knows who's feeding her, and she drinks it all up."

Family members say the baby looks exactly like her mother.

"She looks just like Nikki," said Jimmy McCoy, who makes regular trips to Columbia to see his daughter and great-granddaughter. "She's just the cutest little thing."

Missy Geddings has placed pictures of the baby's mother around the room and says that everyone comments on the resemblance.

"She's beautiful. It's like seeing Nikki all over again," she said, choking back tears.

The past two months have been difficult, both agreed, and confusing. There have been moments of joy, along with the pain. Often, they don't know what to feel.

"It's a feeling like ... I don't know," stammered Ricky Geddings. "We don't know if this is a grandparent feeling or a parent feeling. It's like having a grandchild and raising Nikki all over again."

But the baby, he said, is "a gift from God."

"She's the most beautiful, sweetest baby, gosh," he said. "We'd lay down our life for her. And we thank God and Nikki every day for her."

Fighting tears, Missy Geddings said, "It's a hard feeling. I don't know how to explain it. Without Kaydence and the Lord, I wouldn't have have made it — no. We have crying spells. We have joy and we have sadness, but we haven't had a chance to grieve yet."

The couple believes that prayer has kept their granddaughter — and them — alive throughout the tragedy.

"Kaydence has kept us going — Kaydence and the Lord," said Ricky Geddings. "She's proof that prayer works."

Had she stayed in her mother's womb, Kaydence Geddings would have been born around Nov. 18.



Contact Staff Writer Annabelle Robertson at arobertson@theitem.com or (803) 774-1250.