Moira Montgomery still remembers the moment a decade ago when she held her tiny baby for the first time after he was born nine weeks premature at Methodist Richardson Medical Center.
“As soon as he was stable enough, one of my favorite NICU nurses made sure I got to hold him,” Moira says. “It was a life-changing moment.”
Back in 2014, Brayden weighed just 2 pounds, 9 ounces, and would spend two months in the Level III NICU battling a host of life-threatening conditions before he could go home.
Now happy and healthy, Brayden and his mother returned to the hospital in September for a 10-year reunion with the staff who cared for him.
“Without a doubt, he is alive today because of the care he received at the Methodist Richardson NICU,” his mother says.
It’s been nine years since Brayden and his mom returned for their first NICU reunion, a year after he was a patient.
RUSHED TO THE ER
Before Brayden became the tiniest preemie in the NICU at the time, his mother had a tough pregnancy. But Moira never imagined it could lead to Brayden being born at 31 weeks.
When her contractions began, Moira was confused because her due date was still over two months away. Just in case, she went to the emergency department at Methodist Richardson, and she’s glad she did.
“As soon as they determined I was, in fact, in labor,” she remembers, “I was rushed upstairs to labor and delivery.”
The NICU team was put on alert and, when it was time, took Moira to her room to be ready for Brayden’s arrival.
Lilian St John, MD, neonatologist on the medical staff and medical director of the NICU, helped deliver Brayden alongside a nurse and respiratory therapist, both assigned to the NICU team.
“As soon as he was born, the NICU team began working on him,” Moira says. “I got to see him for only a brief moment before he was rushed to the NICU.”
Brayden has come a long way in 10 years, and his mom “will never stop being grateful for that.”
8 WEEKS IN THE NICU
Once Brayden was in the NICU, Dr. St John and her team continued to stabilize him and manage his many conditions, including necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening disease that inflames intestinal tissue and causes it to die.
“Brayden spent nearly two months in the NICU due to a number of serious conditions,” Dr. St John says. “He fought through respiratory distress syndrome, NEC, anemia and apnea, both due to his prematurity, and very severe gastroesophageal reflux.”
Because his reflux was so bad, Brayden would need to be fed intravenously through a PICC line, a peripherally inserted central catheter that’s inserted through an arm vein but is long enough to reach a large vein leading to the baby’s heart.
His anemia was also robbing his body of red blood cells, and Moira says there was a two-week period where his condition was very touch-and-go.
“He ended up needing three blood transfusions,” she says.
These days Brayden spends his free time playing soccer, video games, or just playing around.
COMPASSIONATE CARE
Through it all, Moira never lost confidence in Brayden’s NICU team of doctors and nurses.
“His life was saved more than once while he was in the NICU,” she says. “Not only were the doctors and nurses incredibly competent, they were also compassionate and warm as I navigated the heartbreaking journey of visiting my son in the NICU.”
Five days after his birth, Moira was finally able to hold Brayden for the first time.
“While Brayden was in the NICU, I was told this will one day be a memory,” she says. “It was surreal.”
Moira and Brayden love coming back to Methodist Richardson to see familiar faces and to celebrate the lifesaving work that happens each and every day in the NICU.
“Because of this team and their excellent care, Brayden was given the chance to grow up and become a normal, 10-year-old boy who loves soccer, video games, and his friends,” Moira says. “I will never stop being grateful for that.”
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