Child's Birth Year
2001

State/Province/Territory
California

NICU Hospital for my journey
Huntington Hospital

My NICU Graduate's Journey
They are triplets. The boys are identical. They had Twin-to-Twin Transfusion syndrome. Richard had hydrops and was not expected to survive; he was given only a 10% chance. They were born by emergency C-Section at 29 w 6 days on Oct 14. I had been in the hospital since August because of Polyhydramnios (excess amiontic fuild). My memory of this time is a blur but I do remember that Richard was in his own separate room in the NICU and on an oscilating ventilator. He also had ROP. Katherine came home on December 4. James came home a week later and Richard came home the day before Xmas. The boys were on oxygen for a year. The cute little nursery I had imagined, turned into a mini NICU with 4' tall oxygen tanks, beeping monitors and the like. They were so small, they had to be feed every 2 hours all thru the night. It took years before Richard made it onto the growth chart. He's now 6'2" and James is 6'3" tall!

What makes you proud of you NICU graduate?
They not only survived, they thrived! They definitely had their challenges (including some ongoing visual issues) from pre-term birth but they persevered. They were severely bullied in school (including from some of the teachers) who didn't quite grasp that physical awkwardness doesn't mean intellectual impairment. In the 6th grade a teacher actually held up Richard's penmanship as an example of someone so dumb he didn't know how to form letters properly to the laughter of the class (he has dysgraphia and needed occupational therapy which the school refused to provide saying he just needed to try harder). Both boys eventually graduated Summa Cum Laude from High School and Katherine Magna Cum Laude. All three are now in college at the University of California - the boys in the School of Engineering Katherine is studying art and biology. Most importantly, they are good, kind, decent and caring people.

Weight at Birth (lbs. or Grams)
2 lb 11 oz, 3 lb 11 oz (one pound of that was fluid from hydrops) and 2 lb 14 oz

Weeks Gestation
29 weeks 6 days

Time spent in the NICU (Specify Day, Month, or Year)
58 days, 70 days and 51 days