NICU Stories

"Houston was born when i was 25 weeks pregnant. He had a shortage in the umbilical chord. He wasn't getting the proper nutrition or oxygen because of this. This caused him to be delivered emergency c-section. He was born 08/14/2015. He weighted 1 pound 3 ounces at birth. Houston lived 4 1/2 months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Houston fought infections, illnesses, surgeries, etc. Houston fought hard to be with us, however he gained his angel wings 01/05/2016. 

Being in the NICU was physically, financially, and emotionally hard. We practically lived in the hospital. this is how we formed Houston's Lift Off. We are based in Canton, Ohio. Houston's Lift Off has been established since April of 2020. We have served over 889 NICU families. Houston's Lift Off provides items such as gas gift cards, food gift cards, baby books, baby blankets, hygiene items, catered meals, etc. We try to help with anything that a NICU family may need. Our mission is to show the NICU families they are not alone. Our ending goal is to offer public housing for these families. 

Ashley, NICU mom

"Kaylie first started to realize something was wrong 24 weeks Pregnant when her hands, feet, and face started to swell up. However, we did not think much of it because we figured it was a typical pregnancy symptom. The first symptom of swelling occurred on Sunday night just in the fingers and eyes. On Tuesday her legs had progressed to a swelling above the knees and were extremely puffy. Luckily Kaylie decided to take her blood pressure at clinicals on Wednesday and it happened to be high for her (141/85) when her normal was rather low (100/60). She called her nurse at St. Vincent’s, and she told her "You need to go to the O.B.E.D and tell them everything you told me" (O.B.E.D maternity emergency room). Shortly after arriving they diagnosed Kaylie with Severe pre-eclampsia and told her that she would be having an extended hospital stay to try to get Weston to at least 34 weeks, keep in mind we were only 24 weeks and 4 days. When in the O.B.E.D. They checked her BP, and it was now 156/84, continuously checking every 10 minutes. It reached 185/91 when they pushed blood pressure medicine through the IV. They had attempted 3 times before a successful IV stick busting a vein and bruising two other spots. When moved to triage they started magnesium sulfate (to help prevent seizures) and gave her a steroid shot in her glute to help our baby's lungs. She was then swabbed to check for any infection down below to make sure if and when the baby was delivered there were no infections. When all was done, she was moved to her actual room where she was monitored for 24 hours. The Nurses made Kaylie do a 24-hour urine test to check for protein and continued to monitor her oxygen, pulse, blood pressure, and baby’s heart rate. Friday she was taken off continued monitoring and was free to move around. Kaylie had woken up from her sleep with terrible pain in her abdomen, and blood pressure in the 160s over 80s so they gave her a dose of IV BP meds and it kept going up, they ended up giving her four more doses. Even after the four doses it was now 210/100 when nurses and doctors decided to deliver because if it wasn't placental separation, she was going to have an eclectic seizure. They inserted a catheter and a new IV for more magnesium sulfate. At 4:45 am Saturday she was wheeled to the OR they prepared her for delivery and made the first cut at 5:11 am he was out by 5:15 am. He was 640 grams or 1lb 6.6oz and 11 inches long. Weston made the sweetest small cry proving to be a good sign. The nurses and doctors joked about how feisty he was. After he got to the NICU, I (Weston's daddy Jake) got to be the first person to touch him because Dr. Bruce said he needed his dad’s bacteria. It was one of the most exciting times in my life, you can tell by the ear-to-ear smile I had in pictures! At first, Weston was only on nasal oxygen, they told us it was his honeymoon stage. Which we understood but did not know the extent it was going to go to. Two days later he was put on a conventional ventilator and only getting nutrition through IV fluids. Shortly after that, they started to put Weston on 1.5mL feeds of moms breastmilk every 3 hours. They were doing brain scans and lung x-rays daily for Weston's first week, he made it through all his brain scans with flying colors, NO BRAIN BLEEDS!!! However, the lung X-rays were a different story every time we asked or were told about his lungs the answer was the same, "they are terrible". We did not really know how to take this news over and over, but we just kept trying to stay strong for our little man because we knew that was the best way we could help him. He gets blood gases every day and they must prick the heel of his little foot to see what his pH, hematocrit, and carbon dioxide levels are. If Weston is having a bad day they can take multiple. They were gradually upping his feeds and trying to slowly turn down his vent settings until little man got a bad MRSA infection in his blood and lungs. This ended up causing him to go on the oscillator (which is a vent that gives about 600 small breaths per minute to keep their lungs open). They tried him on multiple anti biotics when they finally found the one that worked, they kept him on a month course of it. He is now, after battling MRSA, on a regular vent which nitric helped with when transferred hospitals and his feeds are 22.5ml per three hours. He has had six blood transfusions, several brain scans, tummy and heart ultrasounds, several IVs, many new vent tubes, he has a picc line currently for his anti-biotics, and he’s been sedated all in his first month and two weeks of life. Today He is six weeks old and weighs 2lb 14oz and is eating good and is very active. We take it day by day but recently everyday is better. He is now working his way off this ventilator and towards nasal! We couldn’t be prouder of our baby. If you are currently/were nicu parents, we are more than proud of y’all and your little babies!"

-Jake, NICU dad