When the holidays roll around each year, Americans gather together in a spirit of thankfulness and giving. This year, a Long Island couple has even more to be grateful for, as they recently brought home their baby after a stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Local news station ABC7 and the hospital’s social media captured Perla and Dahibel Perez of Long Island as they awaited the discharge orders for their newborn daughter a few days before Thanksgiving.
Tiny baby Daila was born in September at 28 weeks at a tiny 1 lb, 2oz. In total, she ended up spending 64 days in Catholic Health Mercy Hospital at Rockville Center, and was sent home weighing just a few ounces over 5 lbs. Photos and videos from Daila’s last day there show her parents removing her heart monitor leads, cuddling her, and feeding her a bottle – all while Daila is adorably clad in a pink outfit. Hospital staff say they are missing her, but they wish the Perezes the best.
Daila isn’t the only tiny baby to have faced the challenges of the NICU and successfully graduated. Just this year, baby Shyne was born at 24 weeks, and went home to her parents after 147 days in the NICU, as Live Action News reported. The current record of the earliest premature baby to go home was baby Curtis, born at 21 weeks and weighing less than a pound, and went home to his parents and siblings after 275 days in the NICU.
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Recent analyses of preterm births, or births before 37 weeks of gestation, have reportedly increased in the United States. Some statistics have the current rate at 8.7%, with others as high as 10.4% — roughly 1 in 10 births. While some babies will only need a little support after birth, babies born at much earlier ages will need far more. The earlier a baby is born, the more likely he or she is to require intensive intervention, such as the use of a ventilator. Additionally, a baby is more likely to experience complications over the rest of his or her life due to a shortened gestational time. Lifelong complications such as eye problems, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, and hearing problems can be results of extreme prematurity (birth before 28 weeks and weighing less than two pounds).
While some media outlets seem to imply that abortion is necessary to “prevent” prematurity, these premature babies deserve to live and have medical care like every other baby. Studies have shown that preemies have better outcomes when given active care. The research and attention to providing better care for the tiniest of babies benefits the entire field. In 1963, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (son of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy) died 39 hours after his birth at 37 weeks. The high-profile nature of his brief life death eventually gave rise to the field of neonatology and the development of the NICUs that save so many lives every year.
Tell President Trump, RFK, Jr., Elon, and Vivek: Stop killing America’s future.
Defund Planned Parenthood NOW!
