Child's Birth Year
2021

State/Province/Territory
Florida

NICU Hospital for my journey
Bethesda Hospital East

My NICU Graduate's Journey
He was born at 25 weeks. He needed to be resuscitated, and was on a ventilator for his first 6 weeks (and stayed on oxygen support until he was almost a year old). His respiratory system was so fragile, and he was so little. He had countless desaturation episodes which caused him to stop breathing, the nurses would have to manually breathe for him with a bag until he recovered from the episode. Due to his low muscle tone he also had some physical therapy where they would test his reflexes, help grow muscle strength, and increase his awareness. He also had preemie blindness, ROP, stage 3. The eye doctor was very close to doing surgery, but miraculously Atlas recovered from that all on his own. Unexpectedly he was also born with a cleft lip which lead to some struggles with feeding, but once we figured out specialty bottles that worked well for him he had no problems.

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
He has grown so much and won so many battles it’s hard not to find something to be proud of. He’s had surgery for his cleft lip as well as releasing a tongue tie, been in and out of the hospital about 20 times for respiratory issues, he’s also been diagnosed with GERD (reflux disorder). He is in occupational, physical, and speech therapy and he is growing and learning all the time. He is the happiest, spunkiest little boy. In spite of everything he has been through and all the obstacles thrown his way he hasn’t let a single thing hold him back.

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
1lb, 12 oz

Weeks Gestation
25 Weeks

Time spent in the NICU (Specify Day, Month, or Year)
125 Days