Child's Birth Year
2020

State/Province/Territory
North Carolina

NICU Hospital for my journey
Maynard Children's Hospital at ECU Health Medical Center

My NICU Graduate's Journey
-March 3, 2020 I checked myself into the hospital for my 3 week stay.
-The pandemic shut everything down March 13th.
-The Dr's took him 6 weeks early for my health.
-My St Patty's Baby arrived March 17.
-Shortly after the delivery, the nurses honored my wishes on taking pics in his outfit before they fully hooked him up to the monitors.
- He weighed 5lbs,4oz
- Stayed in the NICU for 2 weeks
- He was able to feed on his own so the tubing was removed but he still struggled with breathing.
- He started improving even more, he graduated and went to special care for 2 weeks and a couple of days.
- After struggling to breathe on his own, he finally got it! All of his vitals were normal
- I got a call on April 16th around 9a, the nurse asked me, "Hey you want your baby to come home (I could tell she was smiling, they all knew me at this point) I answered her with so much excitement. My husband and I got our things together and headed right over. It would be dad's first time seeing him in person after about 2.5 weeks(which was very hard). For his remaining days, I as his mom was only allowed visitation during the pandemic.(Thank God it's over) So Dad was even more excited that he could finally see and hold his baby vs pics and videos. Wonderful Staff. We love & appreciate them so much.

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
I'm/we're so proud of our NICU Grad.
He's so smart, loves helping others, very independent, and most importantly he loves his family and going to church. In spite of everything he's been through just to get to this point in life, is a blessing within itself. GiVantes always willing to learn knew things. He knew his solar system at the age of 1(who's been TALKING since turning one lol) in this time frame he's preparing for kindergarten by learning his sight words and he's number 2 in his class. Everyday he amazes us by his thoughts and way of thinking. We appreciate him more than he'll ever know or realize. The way he expresses himself sometimes has us thinking, "Hey I never thought about it that way you're right".



Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
5 lbs 4 oz

Weeks Gestation
34 Weeks

Time spent in the NICU (Specify Number of Days, Months, or Years)
29 Days