As most new mothers are, Adrienne Kromer was nervous about her first day back to work after having a baby, since it meant she would be away from her daughter all day for the first time.
She dropped her off at daycare in the morning, but when she arrived to get her precious infant, the horrified mother walked in on a crushing scene.
Adrienne’s apprehension went into overdrive about leaving her little girl, McKenna Felmly, in someone else’s care, when three separate calls to the Allentown, Pennsylvania center went unanswered.
Concerned about why nobody was picking up the phone and unable to get an update on how her baby was doing, the new mom left work and drove down to the daycare.
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Leigh Township police at scene of daycare (left), McKenna Felmy (right)
Calling McKenna’s caretakers repeatedly wasn’t a case of Adrienne just being an overprotective mother. Earlier in the day, the daycare had called her to say that her infant was struggling to take a bottle and had fallen asleep quickly after refusing to eat.
That behavior was uncharacteristic of her baby, and it didn’t sit well with the mother who couldn’t get any followup about the situation after that first call. The anxiety was more than she could handle, and as it turned out, her nagging fear wasn’t unfounded.
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Adrienne with baby McKenna
As Adrienne was en route to the daycare, the center finally returned her call to tell her that McKenna wasn’t breathing. The 3-month-old’s sudden issues didn’t make any sense, since that morning she had shown no signs of illness or distress, according to WNEP.
When the panicked mom arrived to see what was going on, McKenna had already left the daycare and was being transported to the hospital. They left behind a distressing scene among the workers who stayed to watch after the other kids.
Adrienne called her boyfriend Bryan Felmly, who is the baby’s father, to say what happened and have him meet her at the hospital. By the time the couple arrived, it was too late. There was nothing doctors could do to save their baby, and she was pronounced dead.
Desperate for answers, the couple was told that the daycare workers found McKenna unresponsive in her crib with no signs of distress, and attempts to revive her failed. An immediate autopsy proved there to be no trauma on the child. Foul play is not suspected in this case, but the death is still under investigation to determine exactly what went wrong, the Allentown Morning Call reported.
It could take up to three months to know for certain what caused their infant’s sudden death, which doesn’t make the sorrow of the ordeal any easier. Unfortunately, Adrienne will always be stuck with guilt and questions over whether her baby would still be alive today, had she not left her with a stranger.
This mother did nothing wrong and perhaps the daycare didn’t either, as this could have been SIDS or another unavoidable death. No sooner did these parents welcome their child into the world, did they have to say goodbye. That’s something nobody should have to do.