I am forever grateful to BWH NICU and the care my daughter (and I) received this past year. I found out I was pregnant in November 2023 and had a pretty typical 1st and 2nd trimester. On May 18th 2024, at 31 weeks pregnant, I was walking around Newbury Street when I started feeling dizzy. I went home and took my blood pressure as I had a feeling something was off- call it mother’s instinct. To my surprise, my blood pressure was 195/117. I called my doctor who instructed us to immediately get over to BWH as fast as we could.   

Within an hour of being admitted I learned that I had severe preeclampsia and would not be leaving the hospital without a baby. I was admitted to the antenatal floor in the hopes that they could monitor me and deliver at 34 weeks. Over the next several days I learned that my daughter was intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) and my blood pressure became increasingly more unstable. As my daughter continued to get less and less nutrients, they decided to do an emergency c-section at 31 weeks and 6 days- over 8 weeks before my due date. 

Our beautiful daughter, Remy Darling was born at 2lbs 9.6oz on May 23, 2024. She was small but mighty! She came out loud and brave to “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac playing over the operating room speakers. From the moment she came out, the Brigham NICU took over and became her biggest advocates. We established a truly remarkable primary care team of nurses who cared for Remy like one of their own. They became our therapist, advocates, support system and biggest cheerleaders. The doctors made sure we were informed with every decision that was made. Remy had a complicated and long stay at BWH with obstacles along the way including several stays at Boston Children’s Hospital. With each obstacle came a team of doctors and nurses who explained medical terminology and risks to us in language we could understand. Her nurses spoiled her with night time snuggles when we couldn't be there, decorated her room with milestone crafts and holidays photoshoots to brighten our day. We celebrated both mine and my wife’s birthday and 4th of July in the hospital, but Remy’s team made sure to make every moment special. Remy kept us on our toes for 75 days until she was finally discharged on August 6th, 2024. The BWH NICU team has truly become like family to us and we don’t know how we would have gotten through those 11 weeks without them. To this day, when someone tells us that Remy is a “miracle baby” my wife likes to correct them and say, “it wasn’t a miracle- it was medical science, doctors and nurses.” (:

A year later, I’m in awe that Remy will be there in June cheering me on from the sidelines- something that would not have been possible without the BWH NICU team.