PROVO, Utah - Bethany Taylor had only been home from the hospital for two days, with her brand new baby Jane, when she, along with her husband and mother-in-law, started feeling sick. After her mother-in-law started vomiting, Taylor's husband googled carbon monoxide poisoning.
"Headaches and like the nausea, vomiting. We saw it was similar to what we were experiencing," said Taylor.
They initially took Jane, who was five days old at the time, to a pediatrician who said not to worry but keep a close eye on her.
"She was really, really sleepy and she wasn’t waking up to eat," said Taylor.
However, when they called poison control, they were told to go to the emergency room right away.
Doctors immediately put Jane into a hyperbaric chamber, which uses highly concentrated oxygen at increased pressures as a type of medicine.
"We sat in there for two hours. Each session was two hours. We did three sessions, one that night and then we came back the next morning and the next afternoon," said Taylor.
It did the trick.
"After the treatments he checked her and it was like night and day difference, how much more responsive she was to everything going on around her," said Taylor.
The Taylors think it's an old heater in their Provo apartment that caused it. Their landlord has been extremely concerned since hearing the news. She bought them a new space heater and a carbon monoxide detector.
"It's probably something you won’t be prepared for or have on your radar," said Taylor.
Doctors say Jane broke the state record. She's the youngest patient in Utah to ever be treated in a hyperbaric chamber.
"We hope nobody ever beats her record," says Taylor.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless, poisonous gas that can affect the body at a cellular level. It can be very dangerous for newborns with a developing central nervous system. Luckily, Jane was treated early.
"We got it in enough time that the treatment worked and hopefully it won’t have any lasting effects from it," said Taylor.
Taylor says Jane has been a normal, happy, growing baby ever since. Doctors will keep monitoring her to make sure there aren't any long-term effects, but at this point, they think Jane's health is in good shape.
