Brynleigh

Child's Birth Year
2025

State/Province/Territory
Virginia

NICU Hospital for my journey
Henrico Doctors' Hospital

My NICU Graduate's Journey
Brynleigh’s NICU journey began the day she was born extremely premature at just 1 pound 3 ounces through an emergency C-section due to severe preeclampsia complications. What followed were the hardest 76 days of our lives in the NICU.

From the very beginning, she proved she was a fighter. Brynleigh was born with NEC (Necrotizing Enterocolitis), a life-threatening condition in newborns. Because of severe abdominal distention, she spent the first part of her life NPO, meaning she could not eat or be fed at all and survived only on nutrition and fluids through IVs.

Her progress came one step at a time. She went from being fully intubated, to CPAP, then bubble CPAP, and eventually to a nasal cannula as her tiny lungs grew stronger. Every milestone became a huge victory for our family.

Once Brynleigh was finally allowed to begin feeds, another journey began. She first received milk through an NG tube before slowly learning how to latch and drink from a bottle. Feeding would exhaust her because she was so tiny, and it took many days of practice and determination before she could successfully finish bottles on her own.

The NICU became our second home. We spent countless days and nights there, and the doctors and nurses became like family to us. They cared for Brynleigh with such compassion, celebrating every small victory with us and guiding her through each step of her fight for life.

After 76 days, we finally brought our miracle home.

What makes you proud of your NICU graduate?
What makes us most proud of Brynleigh is her strength and determination every single day. From the very beginning, she has faced more challenges than most babies ever will. Being an IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction) baby, meaning she experienced restricted growth in the womb and was born much smaller than expected, along with being a former extreme preemie, she has always had her size working against her but never lets that define what she can achieve.

Even now Brynleigh continues to meet her developmental milestones. Every new skill she learns is a reminder of how hard she has worked for things that often come naturally to others.

Feeding has been one of her biggest ongoing challenges since birth, but she continues to push through it with determination. She attends speech therapy weekly to support feeding and continues growing stronger every day while being full of life.

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
1 lb 3 oz

Weeks Gestation
28 Weeks

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