Child's Birth Year
2021

State/Province/Territory
Louisiana

NICU Hospital for my journey
Lake Area Medical Center-Oschner

My NICU Graduate's Journey
Charlotte was born at 35 weeks through an emergency C-Section due to severe preeclampsia. Her mother went in for a check-up, and left a week and a half later with Charlotte. It was very hard for her parents to see her in the NICU with all the cords and monitors attached. Another hard part was the COVID protocols. No one other than her parents were allowed to visit Charlotte in the NICU, which brought much sadness to her doting grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Charlotte is loved beyond compare, and having her for an unexpected extra 5 weeks was wonderful, even though it came with lots of heartache and fear of “Is she going to be okay?”. On the day she was released, all of the grands and great-grands came to her home to visit with Charlotte. A few of them were at the house before they even made it home.

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
Charlotte has many developmental delays as well as autism. She just recently started ABA therapy and in just over a month she has come so far! Before, it was very hard for her to sit still, and her communication was very lacking, as she’s almost nonverbal. She has been verbalizing so much more, and her sign language skills are INCREDIBLE! Charlotte has the biggest heart and gives the best hugs. She makes all of her loved ones so insanely proud of her every day!

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

Weeks Gestation
35 weeks

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