Dylan was born at Minneapolis Children's Hospital at 29 weeks on February 4, 2016, very spontaneously. His fragile body weighed 3 pounds and was 16 inches long. At just 4 days old, my husband and I found out our little fighter had holes in his bowel and required an emergency exploratory (yikes) surgery to find and remove the piece(s) of the bowel with holes and place the two open ends of the bowel coming out of his stomach (stomas). During this surgery, he also received a broviac in his chest as a central line for IVs. This was the most terrifying day ever. How could a baby weighing less than 3 lb and only 4 days old, survive a surgery? I was in shock as the surgeon team (~10 people) prepped him in his little NICU room and wheeled his isolette bed away from my husband and I into the operating room. We had kissed Dylan and wondered if we’d ever see him again. We felt so lucky and thankful that he made it through, but there was a lot more lying ahead that Dylan had to overcome.
In a couple of months once Dylan was bigger, stronger and healthy, he would require a second bowel surgery (to put his bowel back together). During those couple of months in the NICU/ICC, Dylan had to get treated for jaundice, received a blood transfusion, overcame breathing issues, head ultrasounds (for brain bleeding), skin issues from the stoma bags on his abdomen, removal of the broviac from his chest, multiple eye exams, hearing test, echo, enema, car seat evaluation, acid reflux, etc.
On April 11th, still about 2 weeks before he should have been born, Dylan went in for his second surgery (ileostomy takedown) to reconnect his bowel so he could stool using his complete bowel. The surgery was a success and after about 3 weeks of recovery, he was well enough to come home… H-O-M-E, the sweetest words I have ever heard after he spent 93 long days in the NICU/ICC.
My husband and I have been blessed that overall Dylan has remained healthy and happy. He received the all clear from his surgeon and today, we regularly visit Physical Therapists and Occupation Therapists to help him progress and hit his developmental milestones which is the best case scenario if you ask us. Although, we will never forget how traumatic Dylan’s hospital stay was and what he had to fight through to get home.
We appreciate all of the medical staff and their NICU programs that helped Dylan survive and get well so we could take him home. The Minneapolis Children's Hospital will always hold a place in my heart.