A Patient Story – London Hopkins

Twin Babies, Two Hospitals, One Goal

Fort Sanders Perinatal Center, Fort Sanders Regional and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital Provide Care for Rogersville Family

While expecting twins last year, London Hopkins and her husband, Michael, of Rogersville traveled more than 20 times to receive prenatal care at Fort Sanders Perinatal Center in Knoxville. The trip took an hour and 20 minutes each way.

Their twins were born healthy– but earlier than expected.

London primarily saw board-certified perinatologist Perry Roussis, MD, FACOG, who has delivered more than 10,000 babies – most of them considered high-risk pregnancies – throughout his career in Knoxville. Hopkins says she was terrified going into this pregnancy with twins after suffering two miscarriages.

“Twin pregnancies have a complication rate much higher than a single pregnancy, and one of Mrs. Hopkins’ babies was much smaller than the other,” Dr. Roussis said. “So she needed to be followed very closely.”

Dr. Roussis delivered Caroline and Oliver Hopkins by C‐section at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center on May 21, 2019, just three weeks shy of their due date. Caroline weighed 3 pounds, 12 ounces, and Oliver weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces.

A neonatologist and staff members from East Tennessee Children’s Hospital also were on hand for the birth. Located across Clinch Avenue from Fort Sanders Regional, ETCH has a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for advanced medical care for newborns. The two hospitals are connected both physically and through a shared mission of caring for high-risk mothers and babies.

“They brought the babies to my room for a little while before they took them to Children’s Hospital,” said London. “It was so smooth, how well the two hospitals communicated with each other and were able to work together without any hiccups.”

The twins were in the NICU for two weeks before they could go home.  Today Caroline and Oliver are almost six months old and healthy, and will be crawling soon, London says.

“The relationship between Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital are interdependent and necessary for a high‐risk pregnancy,” said Dr. Roussis. “They work like one hospital when it comes to taking care of mothers and babies.”

“We got exceptional care at Fort Sanders Regional,” said London. “They took care of my husband, too, because he stayed with me for a few days. I would recommend Dr. Roussis and Fort Sanders to anybody who needs prenatal care. He took such good care of me! He wants to take care of his patients, to give them the best care he can.”

Dr. Roussis said that having a conscientious patient is important, especially when it comes to healthy outcomes in pregnancy.

“No pregnancy can be successful without the cooperation and working together of the physician and the woman involved, and Mrs. Hopkins did everything she was asked, and ended up with a very good pregnancy,” he said. “It was a pleasure and honor to take care of her babies.”

Learn More

For more information about the high-risk pregnancy services offered at Fort Sanders Perinatal Center, please call (865) 331-2020.