Stories of Success and Hope

Our son, Amen, was born at 25+0 weeks gestation. He was born due to decreased fetal movement via emergency c-section. When he was born, he was not moving and did not have an audible heartbeat. Soon after his birth, it was discovered that he had 2 Grade 4 brain bleeds. That night, we remember being told they were very concerned about him. 4 days after he was born, we were sat down and told just how severe his situation was. We were told that if he survived, he would have significant cognitive and physical disabilities. At that point, my husband and I felt our entire world crashing down around us. The one thing that kept us afloat was our faith in God and His wondrous healing power. We were in the NICU 145 days. The saying goes “in the Nicu, you take 1 step forward and 2 steps back” and that was definitely our experience. Our son would have many setbacks, and 2.5 months into his Nicu stay, he had to transfer to a Level 4 NICU for 2 surgeries. As scary as it all was, knowing God was on our side was all the strength and hope we needed. After 145 days, one heart surgery, one eye surgery, and countless intubations, extubations, ultrasounds, and treatments, our 1 pound 9 ounce miracle came home- weighing almost 10 pounds. He came home on 1/2 liter of oxygen (which was its own learning curve) but we had an amazing team that helped us every step of the way. The first thing we did was get him in therapy. Due to the extreme brain bleeds, he is at an increased risk for developing cerebral palsy. Once we did his MRI- it was discovered that there was NO damage on his right side and MINIMAL damage on his left. His neurologist was shocked- she had never seen any healing quite like that. He had not one, but two of the worst brain bleeds you can have, and he was practically healed but one tiny dead spot. We were told the damage should have been much more severe, but our son was healed through our faith and Christ and continuous prayer. He is now 16 months old, and has minimal delays. He has his own challenges, but we continue to have hope that he will do great things. He has proven over and over again that he is a warrior. Every single NICU baby is so strong. While we were in the thick of it, it was hard to reflect upon certain moments, but now we are on the other side of the NICU, we realize what a blessing it was to be able to see our son overcome so much and be the living, breathing miracle he is. We went from hearing “your son might not survive” to seeing him thrive in therapy and make such amazing gains. Amen is our living prayer- and though he had a rough start- he’s thriving and he makes me so proud to be his mom every single day.

~Ariel Gonzalez