The Pastor, her pregnancy, a premonition, and a pandemic
BY CAMMIE WRIGHT
cammie@nordaknorth.com
Reid Buckley hears a familiar sound from the baby monitor. It wasn’t always familiar. The monitor should be in the nursery, waiting to
pick up the cries of his first child, a baby girl scheduled to arrive in just weeks. Instead, the baby monitor he watches from the camper is in the master bedroom serving as a make-shift security camera so Reid can monitor his wife Kayla Buckley, the pastor of United Methodist Church in Turtle Lake, as she battles coughing attacks, checks her O2 levels, and monitors her heart rate every hour. “I had such bad cough attacks that I couldn’t even call him, plus I was so tired, so I would look in the camera and give him a thumbs up,” Kayla said. Kayla found out she had COVID-19 on October 7, 2021. She was 36 weeks pregnant, and just two-and-a-half weeks away from her scheduled C-section. Scary situation for anyone. Terrifying for Kayla and Reid. Kayla has underlying health conditions due to birth defects. She underwent 34 surgeries. So, her family took extraordinary precautions during the pandemic to minimize the risk to herself, her husband and their unborn child.
