01/20/2026
Area Mother Credits Fitzgibbon Team with Saving Her Life During Emergency Delivery
Eight-time mom Hailey Millsap faced unexpected emergency complications just minutes after what seemed to be a “routine” labor and delivery of her baby. However, the Syracuse, Mo., mom credits quick action by the medical team in the Women’s Center at Fitzgibbon Hospital with saving her life.
After hours of laboring to deliver her baby, Millsap's fifth delivery with William Smith, M.D./OBGYN, required an emergency cesarean section when her baby wouldn't drop through the birth canal. During the procedure, she developed a placental abruption, a serious complication where the placenta – which serves as the lifeline between mother and baby - separates from the uterus. This can cause excessive, and even life threatening, bleeding in the new mother.
"Dr. Smith explained what was taking place the entire time," Millsap said. "The procedure was very quick."
The real crisis emerged during what should have been the peaceful "golden hour" of bonding with her newborn son, Retlyn. Within 30 minutes of returning to her room, nurses noticed significant bleeding.
"I looked at my fiancé and asked if he could take the baby. I didn't feel well," Millsap recalled.
The new mom was experiencing a severe postpartum hemorrhage, or bleeding. Nurses Cheyann Green, LPN, Brea Weber, RN, Mikiah Davis, RN and particularly Caitlyn McCorkle, RN sprang into action. They worked together calmly but urgently to control the bleeding while keeping Millsap conscious.
"They kept saying 'stay with us, Hailey,’ " Millsap said. "I just kept telling myself, ‘Don't close my eyes,’ begging the Lord for a little extra time here on earth."
Throughout the crisis, the team maintained a reassuring presence, according to Millsap. One nurse held her hand while repeatedly telling her fiancé, "She will be ok, Dad."
The next night, Caitlyn returned to Millsap's room with a yellow crocheted hat she had made for baby Retlyn.
“She wanted me to always remember that my experience and my baby was like the song by Coldplay, 'Yellow,' " Millsap said. "She is so right. Mothers will conquer the world for their babies."
Five months later, both mother and baby are thriving. Millsap credits Dr. Smith's surgical skill for her quick recovery and excellent incision-healing and the nurses for their work in keeping her calm during a time of great concern.
As a mother of eight children, five delivered by Dr. Smith, Millsap said she has followed him throughout his career because of the trust he has built with her family.
“I made the choice to drive the hour drive every time. I trusted him and whoever would be standing beside him,” said Millsap. “I will forever speak highly on behalf of Fitzgibbon and the staff because, when it would’ve been just as easy to hand me a cold washcloth and go back to their station, they checked everything off their list before walking out of that room. Ultimately, their care saved my life.”
Millsap said that the staff knew of her fear of having a C-section, and they took every step to make sure she was informed and cared for at every turn.
"You just don’t find good humans every day in this world. But at Fitzgibbon, you find a hospital full of them. So when I say I wouldn’t trust anyone else with my life, I mean that earnestly," Millsap said. "What could have gone very wrong, Fitzgibbon and staff fought to keep going right."
