Child's Birth Year
2024

State/Province/Territory
Virginia

NICU Hospital for my journey
Bon Secours Southside Medical Center in Petersburg, Va

My NICU Graduate's Journey
Nolan Creed was born on Jan 23, 2024 via c section at 36 weeks and 6 days.
He was the biggest premie in the NICU at 10lb 2oz and the first premie there in almost a month. Nolan was born with some lung function issues and a blood sugar of 19. He was born early due to his size, my T1D and preeclampsia. He was swollen due to the amount of fluids I was given and was ranging around 9lb range the rest of his stay
While he was in the NICU he dealt with high bilirubin causing a case of jaundice while he was already dealing with the breathing issues and he was on a feeding tube and they continued to check his blood sugar while he was there. He was there for about 2 weeks, after he was born I didn’t get to see him at all for hours. He was very resilient and had the nurses wrapped around his finger and on their toes - he was constantly yanking his monitors off and even his feeding tube once. He was off his breathing tube after a day or two but he had some trouble learning to eat and dealing with the jaundice. They weren’t happy with his weight gain but I fought for his weight to be reconsidered because of how swollen he was at birth. With that in mind it helped him get out finally and we were so happy to take him home.

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
He is the sweetest boy and has been such a fast learner. He held his head up fast, was eating good as soon as they finally got him off the feeding tube- this boy loves to eat now.
He’s a smiley boy that loves to laugh and tries to talk, roll over and crawl. I’m proud of his resilience and how strong he is. He is growing at his own pace and is eating good and sleeps amazingly now. He loves to cuddle and play with his plushies and teething toys. I can’t wait to see him grow up and follow his dreams and be a wonderful man someday.

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
10lb 2oz

Weeks Gestation
36 weeks and 6 days

Time spent in the NICU (Specify Day, Month, or Year)
16 days