Meet Isaac … now an eleven month old baby boy who is learning to walk and is about to celebrate his first Christmas. Isaac’s parents hoped to have a healthy pregnancy and delivery. They understood the fragility of an unborn child’s life after losing their first baby baby at 22 weeks gestational age. The medical team monitoring Isaac’s Mommy, Karina, began to precautionary perform procedures and ultrasounds to protect her and Isaac’s health when she was only 9 weeks pregnant. She was put on complete bedrest at four months pregnant until Isaac’s birth.

Isaac was born at 31 weeks gestational age and immediately admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. His parents did not see him until 16 hours after his birth. Karina recalls, I saw my baby for the first time and “he was in an isolette with wires and tubes attached everywhere to him that connected to different machines. I was scared for him. He didn’t fit the image of a baby I had always known and I did not know what to think or how to feel.” This became Karina’s reality as she drove back-and-forth to the NICU everyday for an hour and a half during Isaac’s three week stay in Intensive Care.

Karina says that while Isaac was in the NICU she felt like her ability to be a “Mom” in the traditional way was taken away, not by the medical staff but by the circumstances. She couldn’t hold her baby for 2 whole days, she couldn’t breast feed him or soothe him because he needed to be under such careful medical supervision. Karina recalls that “in the NICU I often felt like no one understood what I was going through. I felt alone, I felt scared and I felt hopeless.”

Isaac’s NICU journey has ended and after months of doctors and specialists visits, Isaac is well on his way of growing and developing as any other baby his age. He is now waiting for his first visit from Santa, as pictured below.

Thanks to the Serrano Family for allowing ICU baby to share their story.