“We can’t stop your labor. We have to deliver now.”  These were the last words Mari wanted to hear during her 25th week of pregnancy.  It had been nine years since her daughter was born at 25 weeks, and she only lived for 11 days.  She couldn’t bear to go through it again.  But, weighing only 1 pound, 14 ounces, her son Talan was here and Mari was living her worst nightmare - all over again.

Within the first hours of Talan being admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at CHOC Children’s, the doctors explained to Mari all of the risk factors her son faced.  Mari didn’t want to listen. She had heard all of it before with her daughter, and in her mind she already knew how it would end.  Her husband, Tim, kept telling her everything was going to be ok. Over the first few days, things went smoothly.  Talan was on the ventilator, tolerating very small feeds, and his first head ultrasound looked good.  Mari didn’t believe it.  She would sit at the bedside every day and cry. Daily, she waited for the doctors to come in to tell her that Talan wasn’t going to survive.

After five weeks, just when Mari started to allow herself to believe that Talan would be ok, she learned that he had necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a gastrointestinal disease common in premature babies, and might need to have surgery.  In her mind, this was “it,” and she was mad at herself for growing attached to the team taking care of her son and for believing it would be different this time. Mari and Tim prayed with their family and friends that their son would be ok, and were shocked when they learned that Talan didn’t need surgery after all.

Talan continued to grow.  He and his mom grew in their strength.  He had come off the ventilator, out of the isolette, and into an open crib.   Mari had bonded with the NICU team and had also developed friendships with other moms in the unit. Soon, she started to work with CHOC Children’s developmental team to learn how to feed Talan. She finally began to feel like a mother to her son. Soon, Talan was feeding well and breathing well.

It had been more than three months in the NICU, and Mari looked forward to bringing Talan home. Mari had just one last request.  She wanted to be like other moms taking their newborn babies home from the hospital. Accommodating her wishes, CHOC’s team placed Talan in his mother’s arms as she sat in the wheelchair grinning from ear to ear. The wheelchair was decorated with balloons and a banner signed by many of the team members, with whom Mari became close.

Talan is now 15 months old.  He still needs his apnea monitor, but he is home.  Thanks to the amazing NICU team at CHOC, Talan and his family are all home together– the way Mari had always hoped it would be.

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