30 Days of Hope | Kaylin

"On November 14th, 2017 our miracle Kaylin May was born at 22w6d, weighing a mighty 12.8oz.

We never lost hope during our NICU journey. Kaylin spent 130 days in the NICU, and came home 10 days after her original due date. Our journey certainly had its ups and downs, but thankfully she had what we like to call a "gentle journey" overall. Kaylin was lucky to not have brain bleeds, infections, gastrointestinal issues or skin issues, which are all common with preemies. Despite her extreme prematurity and poor lung development, she surprisingly only required one round of steroids to be extubated after 45 days. Excitingly, her oxygen was completely removed before discharge. She received many life saving treatments during her NICU journey, including 12 blood transfusions in her first month of life. She also received Avastin injections to save her vision from retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and thankfully her vision is not significantly impaired from the condition. Lastly, Kaylin had a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and article special defect (ASD). The PDA closed with only one round of Tylenol, and we found out last year that the ASD miraculously closed on its own without any residual side effects. That is a miracle in itself!

Kaylin's story is extra special because she was a twin. Unfortunately, at 16 weeks gestation we lost her brother to a rare genetic abnormality. Having a triploidy fetus with a partial molar placenta along with a viable twin has a less than 1% chance of occurring. This shows how special she really is!

Kaylin is almost 7 years old and doing amazingly well overall. She is incredibly smart and silly, and her personality shines bright." NICU Mama, Tonia