Child's Birth Year
2023

State/Province/Territory
Kentucky

NICU Hospital for my journey
Norton Women and Children’s Hospital

My NICU Graduate's Journey
Levi was born at 32 weeks and 4 days gestation, after I (his mother) spent two weeks in the hospital due to my water breaking at 30 weeks and 6 days. He was on a ventilator a little over 24 hours, and needed a dose of surfactant in his lungs. He ended up on oxygen for another week, along with the bili light. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years were all spent in the hospital. We were scheduled to go home before New Years but Levi had a setback in his eating abilities and we spent another week in the NICU. His body was trying so hard to eat but he was so exhausted that his oxygen would drop into the 40s each time he ate. After taking several steps back and reevaluating how we fed him and what bottles we were using we started to make real progress and he was released a week later! He was born weighing 4 lbs 5 oz and 16 inches. Now at 5 months old is over 16 pounds and 24 inches long!

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
The progress he has made feeding! We were not able to breastfeed until about a week after he was born and that was maybe for a minute or two. We were having to supplement with preemie formula and do bottles for several months. After we were released from the NICU we spent countless hours in the lactation consultants office trying to figure everything out. We now have been exclusively breastfeeding for nearly two months and he is doing so well!

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
4 lbs. 5 oz.

Weeks Gestation
32 Weeks

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