Child's Birth Year
2020

State/Province/Territory
Minnesota

NICU Hospital for my journey
Masonic Children’s Hospital and Fairview Ridges Hospital both in Minnesota

My NICU Graduate's Journey
While not in the NICU for very long, Kaiden was in for struggling to keep his blood sugar up and not eating as well as he should have. He was the 2nd born of twins where he weighed in at 4lbs 12oz at 37 weeks gestation, while his brother weighed in at 6lbs 5oz. He had his poor little feet pricked every hour, spent time under the blue light for being jaundice, went through multiple formulas to find one that his stomach would tolerate and help him gain weight. He started at Masonic in Minneapolis, but was transferred to Fairview Ridges in Burnsville after being tested and cleared of LCHAD, a disease that I his mom am a carrier for that mainly affects boys. He was failing to thrive and wasn’t given enough time to feed, and unfortunately had a NICU nurse in Burnsville that wasn’t so kind towards him and it took a lawyer and his pediatrician to get him to be released home, he was reunited with his brother and started thriving and gaining weight, with the help of his grandmother who is trained and experienced with all blood sugar monitoring and feeding techniques, since Kaidens uncle needed that years prior.

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
Kaiden has went through a lot his almost 5 years of life. With having to be separated from his brother at 3 days old, spending time in the NICU where he wasn’t thriving or gaining weight due to not getting enough time to feed and was forced to get a NG-tube without parental consent. He has been sick with URIs constantly and has been diagnosed with asthma and ADHD. I am so proud of him for going through all of this and still being the kind caring little boy, and proving to everyone that just because he was and is still small. That he is strong and mighty, and can beat all odds. My maternal-fetal medicine provider didn’t even think he would survive the pregnancy with how small he was, but he proved him wrong.

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
4lbs 12oz

Weeks Gestation
37 weeks

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