Eloise

Child's Birth Year
2021

State/Province/Territory
Maryland

NICU Hospital for my journey
University of MD Medical in Baltimore

My NICU Graduate's Journey
Eloise entered the world in a way that matched the strength she would spend the rest of her life showing. After an emergency crash C-section due to a placental abruption and eclampsia, she was born not breathing and was intubated immediately after delivery. Her NICU journey began before I even had the chance to properly meet her, and from the very start she proved she was a fighter.

During her NICU stay, Eloise struggled with slow weight gain and even lost weight at times while her tiny body worked overtime just trying to breathe and grow. She also struggled with bowel movements both in the NICU and for nearly two years afterward, adding another challenge to an already difficult start. Coming home was not the end of the journey either. Eloise was discharged on supplemental oxygen and remained on it for about a year because swallowing would cause her oxygen levels to drop. Along with chronic lung disease, repeated pneumonia infections, surgeries, procedures, breathing treatments, and countless specialist appointments, she also required physical therapy and occupational therapy both in and out of the NICU for the first three years of her life.

Through all of it, Eloise stayed determined, strong-willed, hilarious, and full of sass. She has always acted like the toughest person in every room despite being the tiniest one there. Today, she is thriving, endlessly talkative, full of personality, and still proving every day that she is stronger than anything life has thrown at her.

What makes you proud of your NICU graduate?
What makes me most proud of Eloise is how deeply she feels joy after such a difficult start to life. She went through more in her first few years than many people experience in a lifetime, yet she still approaches life with curiosity, determination, and a huge personality.

Eloise can be shy and nervous at first, especially in new situations, but once she feels comfortable, her personality completely takes over. She becomes nonstop stories, songs, dramatic reenactments, and endless commentary about every detail of her day. She keeps everyone around her laughing with the way she tells stories and acts things out like a full one-person performance.

I am also proud of how resilient and determined she is. Hospitals, therapies, breathing treatments, and specialists could have made her fearful, but instead they helped shape a strong-willed little girl who keeps pushing forward. Even after everything she has experienced, she still finds excitement in little things and approaches the world with so much emotion and imagination.

Watching her grow from such a fragile beginning into a funny, expressive, stubborn, and compassionate little girl has been incredible. She reminds me every day that strength does not always look loud or serious. Sometimes it looks like a shy little girl who quietly watches everything at first, then suddenly fills the whole room with her personality once she feels

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
2lbs 4oz

Weeks Gestation
29 weeks 5 days

Time spent in the NICU (Specify Number of Days, Months, or Years)
A little over 2 months