Baby Born at 24 Weeks Heads Home After Longest NICU Stay in Hospital History
A baby boy born at 24 weeks and weighing less than 2 pounds has gone home after 334 days in intensive care, the longest neonatal stay in the history of North Memorial Health.
Adonis was born last October. The hospital told reporters his time in the neonatal intensive care unit was the longest NICU stay it has recorded.
His mother, Jasmin Wellington, called the homecoming “bittersweet.”
“I’ve just been holding a lot in all of these months, and to finally see him here … it’s been a lot,” she said. “It’s been a lot of ups and downs. It’s been a long journey. Definitely a lot of anxiety in the beginning when he had more critical care. It’s hard to describe a long NICU journey like this. I really don’t know how I even survived.”
Adonis fought Staphylococcus aureus and pneumonia in the NICU.
His father, Junior Rancy-Quaye, said the family put the outcome in God’s hands.
“Put your trust in God,” he said. “That’s the only recipe we got.”
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Wellington said her son’s life was no accident.
“He’s definitely meant to be here.”
Nurse Katherine Martinson said Adonis was a fighter from the start.
“I remember going home and coming back, and I’m like, ‘I hope and pray that he’s still here,’” she said. “He was a fighter since the very beginning.”
“It’s a miracle that he’s going home,” Martinson said.
She noted that many babies born that early are sent to another hospital for a tracheostomy, a feeding tube or other specialized care her unit does not provide.
“Give babies a chance when they’re born that early; a lot of people don’t realize they can exceed expectations, even when they’re born that early.”
Catherine Robinson of Right To Life UK said the family had waited almost a year for this day.
“We are so pleased that baby Adonis is finally going home from the neonatal intensive care unit, almost a year after his birth. I am sure both he and his family are very relieved,” Robinson said. “His strength to make it through such prolonged difficulties is a testament to the strength of so many premature children.”
Right To Life UK said Adonis’ survival also exposes a contradiction in British law. In one hospital room, doctors may work to save a baby born alive at 23 weeks. In another room in the same hospital, a doctor may abort a baby at that same age.
Adonis is home because doctors treated him as a patient. His nurse’s plea was the same case in different words: give babies a chance.
