This is a letter to mothers who deliver a premature baby.  My son, Aiden, was born at 25 weeks gestation and spent 3 1/2 months in the NICU.  I remember searching for positive and negative stories from other families in order to feel a connection, a relation, to what I was experiencing.  I hope this letter helps you.  I understand.  I am part…

We haven’t posted lately and I can’t believe we didn’t share the most important milestone – we are home!  We flew early morning on July 27th.  Eric and I both slept through our alarms (we had to be up by 3 AM) so we rushed to the airport.  Can you imagine if we missed the most important…

Can you believe Aiden’s been in the NICU for three months?  What a terrifying, wonderful journey.  He is a true survivor, a miracle.  We are close to bringing our boy home. Aiden has worked his way through many milestones: He weighs 6 pounds, 3 ounces. He almost fits into newborn size clothing!  (For everyone that…

We have begun breastfeeding!  It’s not easy. I thought it would be instinct for him (and me), and we’d pick it up quickly. He had the most perplexed look on his face when we first started.  Like…what am I supposed to do?  He’s managed to latch on a few times over the past few days. …

We are beyond thrilled to share that Aiden is completely off all respiratory support!  Aiden had chronic lung disease since birth (let’s figure out a way to change these scary medical terms, eh?).  He has done a better job than most micro preemies.  He was intubated the first two days of birth, and only for…

Look at this photo of Aiden, acting like he was never a 25-weeker.  All nurses assigned to him early on say they don’t recognize him now, they can’t believe how big he is!  He really is a different baby. Aiden hit a big milestone last night – he weighs 5 pounds!  He moved to Q3…

Aiden is two months old.  I sighed with relief while typing that sentence.  He hit big milestones after he recovered from his infection. And we’re happy to share great news: Today was the last day of oral antibiotics.  He is now infection-free! He weighs 1,960 grams (over 4 pounds)!  He is finally looking more like…

We have an update on Aiden’s infection.  All of the doctors were surprised nothing showed up on the blood or urinalysis culture during the first 24 hours.  Aiden had a high inflammation count, which is a good indication of infection.  But nothing was growing in his petri dishes.  Finally, yesterday afternoon, about 30 hours after…

We had a big scare with Aiden yesterday.  He hasn’t been feeling well over the past week, with symptoms of increased desats and a low red blood cell count.  On Thursday morning the doctors wanted to give him one more day to see how he does before making any drastic changes.  If he continued to…

Aiden has been steady and growing since the last post. He has been doing so well the doctors moved him to an intermediate room! He spent his first six weeks in a large room with twelve other babies that require the most urgent care.  In fact, during the first week of Aiden’s life the doctors…