Baby born premature at 27 weeks released from Franciscan Children’s Hospital

Charlotte Kapilow-Cohen has spent more time in hospitals before her first birthday than most people will in a lifetime.

That all changed Tuesday when the tiny tot finally headed home to Norfolk with her family.

“We didn’t know if Charlotte was going to make it, for a long time,” said Charlotte’s mother, Amy Kapilow-Cohen. “It was very dire. She had brain swelling, brain hemorrhage.”

Last June, Charlotte was born extremely premature. Amy was just 27 weeks pregnant. She and her husband Liam had no idea the rollercoaster they would be on to get to this day.

Charlotte weighed just over a pound when she was born and required around-the-clock care at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her little lungs couldn’t breathe without a ventilator — a machine she stayed on at all hours even after she moved from Boston Children’s to Franciscan Children’s Hospital.

“We didn’t know if she would ever get off the vent. We didn’t know what life would look like with Charlotte,” Amy said.

But Charlotte is a fighter. With the help of the staff at both hospitals, she slowly gained weight and muscled through with a feeding tube. Both parents spent as much time as  they could with their daughter — so much time that Liam said he lost his job in gene therapy.

Back then, laying her down in the crib in her nursery was just a dream.

“The idea of bringing her home and taking care of her six or seven months ago would make us have a panic attack,” Liam said. “But we just learned so much and we’re so prepared to take her home. We’re excited.”

Charlotte’s weight is now in the double digits, and aside from tracheostomy and feeding tubes, she looks like any other baby girl. In the lobby of Franciscan Children’s, she uses her pudgy little fingers to pull pink sunglasses from her face.

Her personality has grown along with the rest of her.

“She’s sassy,” Amy said. “She kind of rolls her eyes at me sometimes if her mobile goes off and I don’t press the button fast enough.”

Franciscan Children’s is specially equipped to care for babies like Charlotte who require ventilation support. Charlotte is a success story because she gets to go home to her family — that’s not the case for every baby. Nurses at the hospital sent her off with a parade of bubbles.

“This is why we do the work that we do at Franciscan Children’s,” said Elizabeth Smith, senior director of nursing at the hospital.

Charlotte’s fight isn’t over: she’ll require a lot of medical equipment and nursing care at home. But her dad is starting a new job in a few days, she’ll finally meet her big sister, and she’s going home just in time for her parents to throw her a birthday party.

 

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2SilxZS