30 Days of Brave | Maeve

“Maeve rhymes with brave, and our sweet girl is the bravest kid I know! She was born 8 weeks early, weighing 2lbs 15oz, and only 14 inches long. The first time my husband and I met her, she seemed so impossibly small, and we were beyond scared. But her nurse, Andy, reassured us that she was feisty. That's why her middle name is Moxxi. We soon saw that fighting-spirit her doctors and nurses told us she had. After four weeks in the NICU, we discovered Maeve was having a hard time swallowing her milk. After lots of tests and a swallow study we saw she was aspirating and received a diagnosis of dysphagia. We gave her some time to improve, but after a couple more weeks with no improvement we agreed to move forward with a gastronomy tube. Our brave girl went through her first surgery at just two months old (weighing only five pounds). After a successful surgery, we learned how to use her new g-tube and got the green-light to come home. Maeve was in the NICU for 70 days. After being released, we still had lots of appointments with our incredible Speech Therapist, and slowly Maeve's ability to swallow without aspirating improved. A year and a half after having her g-tube placed, Maeve went through a second surgery to close up the hole. Today she is a feisty toddler, with a small white scar on her belly. We love our Brave Maeve!! And we love our NICU and Speech Therapy team. They helped us survive the scariest, most stressful time of our lives. They are truly like family to us, and we can never say thank you enough for their patience, guidance, expertise, and care. “ NICU Mama, Karly