Meet NICU Graduate Baby Rio | Boise NICU Newborn Photography

This baby is the reason the Boise NICU Baby Project was born. My own son, Rio, was born at 41 weeks weighing in at 9 lbs 12 oz. He was a big baby! He was not premature. I did not have any pregnancy complications. So why was he in the NICU?

It was December 12th and I noticed a couple of intermittent trickles of fluid, which I thought was just late pregnancy incontinence, but it turned out to be a high leak in my amniotic sac, or Premature Rupture Of Membrane (PROM). Since it had been about 24 hours before I went to the hospital, labor had to be induced to prevent the risk of infection. My body did not take well to being induced with Pitocin and labor was long and difficult. After about 20 hours, I finally got an epidural. However, the epidural caused my blood pressure to drop, which started to stress the baby out. He wasn’t getting enough oxygen. 10 hours later, Rio was finally born.

But he was not breathing.

They immediately cut the cord, swooped him away, and began resuscitation. He had been born with the cord around his neck. Unsure how long his brain had been deprived of oxygen and blood, and based on blood tests from the umbilical cord, he was diagnosed with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) with unknown severity. They told us he could suffer from cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and other mental or physical disabilities and they took him away to receive therapeutic hypothermia.

Rio was on the cooling blanket for 72 hours and spent 11 days in the NICU. He is currently one week away from turning one and he is doing incredibly well so far. It feels like a miracle. Every milestone is a celebration and a sigh of relief. We are so fortunate to have this strong, sweet, healthy little boy running around our house leaving messes for us to clean up after. Yes, even the messes I’m grateful for!