Meet Baby Charley and Mom Ashley
At this time one year ago, Ashley was expecting her second child and was busy planning the holidays with her husband and their then one-year-old son Henry. They knew that only a few weeks into the New Year, they would be welcoming their baby boy and they began 2023 full of excitement and anticipation. In February, 2023, Ashley went to the St. Catharines hospital for her 9:30am C-section, ready to hold her newborn baby.
Towards the end of her C-section, her doctor called for a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team member, sensing that Ashley’s little boy was going to need a little bit more help. “It was such a good call by my doctor because as it turns out, Charley needed to go to the NICU right away,” Ashley remembers.
“Charley was carrying a bit of extra fluid, something that is quite common for babies who are born via C-section. At first we thought he would be in the NICU for only a couple of hours, but then the doctors said it may take a day or two.” Ashley learned that Charley was struggling to breathe on his own and as much as she tried to remain calm, when he was still in the NICU when Ashley was discharged, and for days afterwards, she was starting to feel really scared.
“It was definitely stressful,” Ashley said thinking back to those incredibly long days at the NICU. “The doctors weren’t sure why he couldn’t breathe on his own, we couldn’t hold him… we just kept thinking ‘what is going on?’”
Charley spent the first few days of his life on a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP), a piece of equipment that delivers air to a baby’s lungs to help the lungs do their job. “There was very little we could do, but we were there all day and all night. Just to be there for them, hold his little hands. If his levels were ever dipping, the nurses would come right away and do what needed to be done. They were amazing.”
Charley got stronger each day and eventually was breathing on his own. Ashley was finally able to hold her baby boy. “At that point, it was just about monitoring him. He was still hooked up to monitors. The doctors were very, very thorough and wanted to make sure he was going to be okay before they discharged him,” says Ashley who remembers feeling so incredibly happy when the discharge day finally came after 11 days of staying in the NICU.
“Taking him home was definitely a whole new kind of stress though,” she adds. “We had spent every day fixated on monitors and numbers and oxygen levels. We had to learn how to be okay without them and not to be terrified every time he made a strange sound or was quiet for too long.”
Thankfully, that little bit of extra help during his first few days of life is all that Charley needed. Today, he is a happy little eight-month-old boy who has come a long way from his 6.1 lbs birth weight. “He weights almost 20 lbs now,” Ashley laughs. “He is crawling around, pulling himself up everywhere, he is a happy guy!”
Heading into another holiday season, Ashley is planning festivities for not one but two boys this year, and she looks back at the experience with an immense sense of gratitude for the team and for everyone who donates towards equipment at our local hospitals.
“The way his life started was terrifying, but I have nothing but great things to say about the NICU. They have amazing resources and such specialized equipment, which was critical for Charley and his care. Everybody on the NICU team was so good to us, and they were good to Charley. They really took the time to get to know him and find out what worked best for him. It was so comforting for us and we will be forever grateful for their care.”
Meet Baby Charley and Mom Ashley
At this time one year ago, Ashley was expecting her second child and was busy planning the holidays with her husband and their then one-year-old son Henry. They knew that only a few weeks into the New Year, they would be welcoming their baby boy and they began 2023 full of excitement and anticipation. In February, 2023, Ashley went to the St. Catharines hospital for her 9:30am C-section, ready to hold her newborn baby.
Towards the end of her C-section, her doctor called for a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team member, sensing that Ashley’s little boy was going to need a little bit more help. “It was such a good call by my doctor because as it turns out, Charley needed to go to the NICU right away,” Ashley remembers.
“Charley was carrying a bit of extra fluid, something that is quite common for babies who are born via C-section. At first we thought he would be in the NICU for only a couple of hours, but then the doctors said it may take a day or two.” Ashley learned that Charley was struggling to breathe on his own and as much as she tried to remain calm, when he was still in the NICU when Ashley was discharged, and for days afterwards, she was starting to feel really scared.
“It was definitely stressful,” Ashley said thinking back to those incredibly long days at the NICU. “The doctors weren’t sure why he couldn’t breathe on his own, we couldn’t hold him… we just kept thinking ‘what is going on?’”
Charley spent the first few days of his life on a continuous positive airway pressure machine (CPAP), a piece of equipment that delivers air to a baby’s lungs to help the lungs do their job. “There was very little we could do, but we were there all day and all night. Just to be there for them, hold his little hands. If his levels were ever dipping, the nurses would come right away and do what needed to be done. They were amazing.”
Charley got stronger each day and eventually was breathing on his own. Ashley was finally able to hold her baby boy. “At that point, it was just about monitoring him. He was still hooked up to monitors. The doctors were very, very thorough and wanted to make sure he was going to be okay before they discharged him,” says Ashley who remembers feeling so incredibly happy when the discharge day finally came after 11 days of staying in the NICU.
“Taking him home was definitely a whole new kind of stress though,” she adds. “We had spent every day fixated on monitors and numbers and oxygen levels. We had to learn how to be okay without them and not to be terrified every time he made a strange sound or was quiet for too long.”
Thankfully, that little bit of extra help during his first few days of life is all that Charley needed. Today, he is a happy little eight-month-old boy who has come a long way from his 6.1 lbs birth weight. “He weights almost 20 lbs now,” Ashley laughs. “He is crawling around, pulling himself up everywhere, he is a happy guy!”
Heading into another holiday season, Ashley is planning festivities for not one but two boys this year, and she looks back at the experience with an immense sense of gratitude for the team and for everyone who donates towards equipment at our local hospitals.
“The way his life started was terrifying, but I have nothing but great things to say about the NICU. They have amazing resources and such specialized equipment, which was critical for Charley and his care. Everybody on the NICU team was so good to us, and they were good to Charley. They really took the time to get to know him and find out what worked best for him. It was so comforting for us and we will be forever grateful for their care.”
