Child's Birth Year
2022

State/Province/Territory
Colorado

NICU Hospital for my journey
Children's Hospital Colorado - Anschutz

My NICU Graduate's Journey
Caden was unexpectedly delivered in our small local hospital by emergency c-section at 28 weeks gestation. He was growth restricted, and only weighed 1 lb 9 oz at birth. He was immediately flown to a level 3 NICU an hour away from home. He was making a lot of progress there, and was able to move from the ventilator to CPAP, and was taking “full feeds.” We were shocked at how resilient this tiny human was!

Then, when he was about 3 weeks old, he contracted a rare infection of the umbilical stump called omphalitis. He was immediately flown out again for emergency surgery at a level 4 NICU, another 4 hours further from home. He had two debridement surgeries and a round of antibiotics to clear the infection. He essentially started over after that. He had to work back off the ventilator, restart feeds, and regain his strength.

Following this complication, Caden had a relatively smooth NICU experience. The only other problem were ran into was trouble with his blood sugar dropping too low when they began to spread out his feeds. They had to move very slowly through this process, and he had to remain on continuous feeds for quite a while. His growth was slow, but steady.

He ended up spending a total of 75 days in the NICU between the two hospitals. He was discharged 5 days before his original due date, and weighed just over 5 pounds.

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
Caden spent the first few days of his life being called “Baby Boy” because we had not chosen a name for him yet. We finally settled on the name Caden because of the meaning, “spirit of battle.”

We knew enough about his situation at birth to understand that he was in for a long, difficult start to life. But, even in those first few days of fighting for life, we could tell that he was a force to be reckoned with! He survived receiving CPR in the first minutes of his life, and countless attempts before a successful intubation was achieved. He pulled out his own breathing tube just days later and chose to breathe on his own!

We knew he was strong then, and we are so proud of him for living up to his name now, by being the fierce, independent toddler he was born to be!

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
700 Grams

Weeks Gestation
28 Weeks

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