Our sweet boy, Everett James, was born on January 25th at 6:18 AM at just 27 weeks gestation. Megan's water broke unexpectedly on January 21st. After four days in the hospital trying to delay labor, things progressed rapidly and Everett was showing signs of distress, leading to an emergency C-section under general anesthesia. We were terrified he wasn't going to make it.

Everett was born not breathing and needed to be intubated immediately. His first weeks of life were absolutely terrifying. Holding him required him to be having a "good" day, had to be carefully planned and carried out with his care team, and was limited to 30-60 minutes per day. On more than one occasion, Everett stopped breathing and became limp in Megan's arms, leading to the team rushing in and ripping him away from her to save him. For the first month of his life he was in a special area of the NICU that was total darkness - he wasn't allowed light in his room and there were no lights in the hallway. We would spend day after day sitting in the dark, listening to the constant beeps of the monitors, holding our breath as he endured the ups and downs of each day.

One month into our journey, Everett received a diagnosis of necrotizing enterocolitis, a severe intestinal condition that causes death of the intestine tissue. He became very sick, very fast. On the day we received that news, the team let us hold him all day. There weren't restrictions that day because they weren't sure if he would live to see the next 24 hours. 

We spent a total of 102 days in the NICU. We were finally blessed to bring our sweet boy home on May 7th. Though really scary, it was the greatest day of our lives. Everett continues to struggle with his chronic lung disease (bronchopulmonary dysplasia) and still requires supplemental oxygen to help him breathe. Any sort of respiratory illness is extremely dangerous to Everett - his first cold landed him in the hospital for 4 days with acute respiratory failure. Megan thought she might have to preform CPR on him on the way to the hospital. He has a heart defect that requires daily medication and monthly ultrasounds, and he will likely require heart surgery down the road. He has severe dysphagia, leading to aspiration events (even with extremely thickened bottles), and the potential for a G-tube remains an ongoing discussion. Additionally, we are working with PT to address developmental delays that are likely a result of his prematurity.

While we are now home from the NICU, Everett has a long road ahead. We are both back to work full time and still unable to pay our bills after all of the debt we have accumulated throughout this journey. We face the very real fear of losing our home, which is also where Megan operates her home preschool business. We feel as though we are drowning and worry about loss of work with future hospitalizations with illness, additional potential surgeries, and frequent appointments with pulmonology, cardiology, speech, and physical therapy. The emotional, physical, and financial toll of this experience has been overwhelming to say the least.

Donations will help us to navigate the severe financial hardships that we are currently facing as a result of our sweet boy's early arrival and medical needs. Our time away from work has caused immense strain as we so desperately try to stay on top of paying our mortgage and other household bills, hospital expenses, and medical bills from Megan's unexpected hospitalization and c-section.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your consideration in helping our family through this difficult time.