Child's Birth Year
2022

State/Province/Territory
New Jersey

NICU Hospital for my journey
Capital Health Hopewell Campus & Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

My NICU Graduate's Journey
RJ was born at 25 weeks with his twin Stephen, who passed at 6 days old from necrotizing enterocolitis. Since Stephen rapidly declined before RJ showed any signs of being sick, the doctors took preventive measures to treat him for the same illness. They were able to catch the necrotizing enterocolitis before it fully developed as well as the meningitis.
RJ was transferred to CHOP for surgery to implant a PDA device. Prior to the surgery (which happened to be on mom's birthday), RJ was followed by infectious disease to make sure the meningitis was gone before the doctors would operate. A week after the surgery, he returned to Capital Health in Hopewell, which was closer to home. He was able to be weened off the ventilator onto BiPap, then just continuous oxygen. Once he was on just oxygen, we were able to start to bottle feed him. After 4 long months, RJ finally came home.
While RJ was still delayed in hitting milestones, he was evaluated by Early Intervention and qualified for physical therapy.

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
Since starting weekly sessions, he has continued to amaze the therapist and doctors with his determination to meet those milestones. RJ is finally pulling to stand up on his own and crawling around very fast. We suspect he will be starting to walk shortly.

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
1 lb 8 oz

Weeks Gestation
25 Weeks

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