Micropreemie Born Weighing 1 Lb. 9 Oz. Spends 135 Days in NICU. How His Parents Thanked Hospital Staff When They Left

Taytum Griffin knew from early in her pregnancy that she was considered high-risk, but a dramatic delivery on Christmas morning finally welcomed a micropreemie named Levi.

“We knew there was a small chance of a preterm birth, but then things just kept happening that pushed us more and more in that direction,” Taytum, 31, explains to PEOPLE.

Baby Levi’s birth, which happened at 25 weeks and six days, came after Taytum had been diagnosed with a subchorionic hemorrhage, a condition doctors initially expected to resolve by the second trimester. Instead, the hemorrhage continued to grow, and a second one developed, increasing the likelihood that she would experience preterm labor.

After going into labor, Taytum’s symptoms began to calm, so her husband Nick, 31, left the room to get bagels and doughnuts. Ten minutes later, everything changed.

Her placenta abruptly separated from the uterus, a life-threatening complication that required a STAT C-section. By 9 a.m. local time, their son, Levi, had been born weighing 1 lb. 9 oz.

For Nick, the speed of the delivery was almost impossible to process.

“I was shocked that it was my son because it was so quick,” Nick of Gilbert, Ariz., tells PEOPLE. “I just saw a baby and had no idea. I couldn’t imagine that they got him out that fast.”

While Taytum was taken into surgery and put under anesthesia to stop the bleeding, Levi was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit. He was intubated and placed inside an isolette, surrounded by wires and machines.

“I probably looked like a ghost to them,” Nick says of the nurses meeting Levi. “I was in shock from seeing my wife go under and meeting my son for the first time all within 30 minutes.”

As for Taytum, she doesn’t remember much of that day. She was unconscious for the birth and only knows that she met her son because there is a photograph of the moment.

“I know it happened, but my memory is not there,” she says.

For the next 135 days, the hospital became their home away from home.

The NICU had scheduled periods throughout the day when nurses would feed him, change his diaper and provide other care.

Nick would arrive before work in the morning to spend time with his son. Taytum would visit during the day, and the two would meet at the hospital in the evening before leaving together around 7 p.m.

Then they would do it all again the next day. And the next.

“The first day we left the hospital and left him there was a really weird empty feeling,” Nick says. “You feel guilty for leaving him. He’s so innocent, you wanna help him, but there’s nothing you can really do.”

Over time, the nurses and doctors became more than medical professionals.

“They know us better than our family and friends,” Taytum says. “They’ve seen us at this level that no one else ever has.”

Soon they learned that nothing in the NICU was guaranteed. Discharge dates came and went. Levi experienced episodes known as bradycardia, when his heart rate dropped significantly. Each episode restarted a five-day period of monitoring before he could be sent home.

“The NICU, you’ll hear, it’s kind of cliché at this point, but everyone says there’s ups and downs, it’s a roller coaster,” Nick says. “We found it in it’s even more of a rollercoaster. It can change hour to hour.”

Finally, after about four and a half months in the hospital, Levi went home.

“We drove home very slowly,” Nick says. “With no music or anything, just focused.”

Then came a milestone waiting for Taytum. The next day was Mother’s Day.

For months, she had held onto a goal: She wanted Levi home by Mother’s Day. As the holiday approached, however, each postponed discharge date made that possibility seem less likely.

“I just feel like we missed out on so many holidays and just spent them in the walls of the hospital,” Taytum says before she describes Mother’s Day as turning out “amazing.”

After saying goodbye to the staff in May, they wanted a way to thank the people who had cared for Levi for so many months.

Their solution was simple: Invite them over for dinner.

Finding a day when everyone was available took more than a month. Finally, at the end of June, the nurses and doctors who had spent countless hours caring for Levi arrived at the family’s home.

“They got really attached to Levi,” Nick says. “They were with him for twelve hours every day.”

The gathering gave them a chance to see how far the tiny baby they had cared for had come.

And today, Levi is growing.

For a long time, he was barely on the growth chart. Recently, he reached the third percentile, a milestone his parents celebrated after watching him spend so long at the very bottom. He is also gaining weight and meeting his milestones based on his corrected age.

Their biggest advice is to stay in the moment, lean on the people around you and most importantly, learn to trust the people caring for your baby.

“It’s easy to just stay in your own bubble,” she says. “But I feel like we really tried hard to branch out and really get to know these people.”

Source: https://people.com/micropreemie-born-weighing-1-lb-9-oz-spends-135-days-in-nicu-how-his-parents-thanked-hospital-staff-when-they-left-exclusive-12077167