Malibu Family Stuck In Cancun After Baby Born 3 Months Early

MALIBU, CA – A Malibu family vacationing in Cancun, Mexico, got stuck for a week after the pregnant mother gave birth three months early via emergency C-section. Now the father and one-and-a-half-pound daughter Poppy are headed home, NBC4 reported.

Maggie Stewart was six-months pregnant when she left for Cancun with husband Jeremy and 3-year-old daughter Neri, according to KTLA. Stewart was advised that it was safe to take the trip, with her due date landing on July 11, the family said.

The trip took a turn for the worse when Stewart developed an infection in her uterus while traveling, and an emergency C-section was induced to save both the mother and baby, NBC4 reported. A week after Poppy was born, they were finally able to airlift the baby and father back to the states.

"So we had to make a life or death critical call on this to save my wife and the baby, if we could,” Jeremy told KTLA. “We really didn't know if we would be able to do this. This was miracle after miracle after miracle that happened."

The baby, who was born with a hole in her heart and is surviving under a blue light in her incubator, arrived at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami after being medically evacuated from Mexico, according to NBC4.

Now, the family is scrambling to pay medical bills. Their insurance doesn't cover the family while out of the country, so they had to pay up front for all of the medical treatment Maggie and Poppy received in Mexico, the family told KTLA.

The family then had to scramble to find money to fly Poppy to the Miami hospital – their credit cards are maxed out, and Children's Hospital was the closest neonatal advanced care unit in the United States that would give her care under their insurance, KTLA reported.

"We really fought every hour of the day to get her here," Jeremy told NBC4.

Mom Maggie remains hospitalized in Mexico with the support of her aunt and the couple's 3-year-old daughter. Baby Poppy is holding her own in Miami, Jeremy told NBC4. He's optimistic she'll be okay, but she has a long road ahead.

"Now that there's been so many people praying for us and rooting for us — and there are thousands of them — and I'm grateful for every one of those prayers," Jeremy told KTLA.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Poppy. If you'd like to donate, you may do so here.

Go Fund Me is a Patch promotional partner; Image via Go Fund Me