Micro-preemie home for Christmas after beating all odds
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - There's no place like home for the holidays, and one family couldn't feel happier to sleep in their own beds.
"They would prepare us for an upcoming situation that he was going through and he would prove them wrong and just power through it. I said he's a tough little guy, and it just shows you that will to survive and pull through," said dad Ryan Crowell.
Baby boy Silas entered the world four months early. Mom Lauren Crowell didn't even get close to reaching her summer July due date.
"I had been diagnosed with a subchorionic hematoma," Lauren said. "It kept getting bigger and bigger. When he was born, I know the doctors at Magee Hospital, they said it was the biggest one they had ever seen."
No longer safe to stay inside, Silas made his grand entrance in March, so early he earned the title "micro-preemie."
He was 1 pound 13 ounces. Now he's 10 1/2 pounds.
Silas fought for his life for 117 days: countless blood draws, 65 X-rays, multiple ultrasounds, eye exams. He took his first bath 27 days in. Dad Ryan finally held him 10 weeks in. And it took two months for his body to gain enough weight to wear clothes
"Everything in his journey, with the PDA, closing the small hole in his heart, with the valves not working and then finally him being able to get them to work, he overcame a lot," Lauren said. "There was a lot of miracles that happened."
He's gone from the palm of his parent's hand to under his family's tree at Christmas with a special garland.
"Each bead symbolizes something from his NICU stay. Each day he was in the hospital, he got a yellow bead. The light fluorescent green ones were for X-rays, I believe. He's had over 65 x-rays."
They're called beads of courage, a beautiful bead for every moment of strength, determination and hope.
"I think it was supposed to be more like a bracelet or a small necklace, and his is more along the lines of a jump rope," Ryan said. "And that's where my wife came up with the idea of stringing it on a tree for him as a Christmas garland."
It's symbolic of a journey that UPMC's doctors will never forget.
"He had a long journey in the NICU with us and hearing how well he's continued to do since he went home, it's absolutely why we do this job and is the reason that our whole team comes to work every day," said Dr. Katie Schwabenbauer, the medical director of UPMC Magee Womens Hospital neonatal ICU.
"I said thank you so many times," Lauren said. "And they understand I'm saying thank you for taking care of my child and all the medical needs he needed, but just thank you too for being a part of our family during those difficult and trying times."
Silas will one day hear the story of the heroes at UPMC Magee Women's Hospital who felt more like family. But until then, mom's just happy to get some rest.
"Yeah, sitting up straight in a hardback chair, after 117 days, it's nice to be back home in a bed," she said.
Silas will celebrate nine months -- five months adjusted -- this Christmas. He's healthy and strong. He just might have to wear glasses because he didn't get the chance to develop full peripheral vision because he was busy dealing with other things.
