10/01/2025
💛Meet Mason and his family, Marissa, Matt & Michael
“Mason was born on April 25th, 2024, at a whopping 12 pounds. Given his size, he required multiple heel pricks to check his blood sugars, as often larger babies have difficulty stabilizing their sugars once born.
As his blood sugars kept dropping, we were told that he’d need to go to the NICU and he would likely be back to us in a few days. Mason looked a tad out of place given the unit had primarily premature babies, and there he was, this large and vocal full term 12 pounder.
Once he was hooked up to machines, the doctors and nurses noted he had low oxygen levels, and he was put on CPAP. We were told that he had ingested meconium at birth, and his left lung was seriously damaged. Due to the need for CPAP, Mason could only be fed orally at specific times based on the numbers on his screen and was given an NG tube for the remaining amount of his feeds.
Over the next few weeks his oxygen levels were up and down, and though he was taken off CPAP, he had difficulty coming off the nasal canula and fully breathing on his own without desaturating. He also had difficulty drinking by mouth and most of his feeds were given through the NG tube.
After 4 weeks, Mason was transferred to Boston Children's Hospital for a full work up by their teams. His incredible doctors and nurses at SSH did everything that they could to get him off oxygen, and they couldn’t find a reason as to why he still needed so much support. Mason stayed at B*H for 2 weeks and received a full work up which returned inconclusive as to why he had such difficulty breathing on his own.
We were advised that he likely just needed time, and on June 6th, he was released to us after several straight days off oxygen, 6 whole weeks of NICU care and without ever going home.
Mason is now 17 months old and is incredibly loving, spirited, and strong. He’s still rocking the 99th%, and we wouldn’t have him any other way. We feel so fortunate to have had such a caring, kind, and deeply talented team of nurses and doctors to support and care for all of us in what felt like some of the hardest weeks of our lives. We’re eternally grateful for their support and we wouldn’t be where we are today without them.”
- Marissa (Mason’s mama)
This final spotlight is such a sweet, grounded family.
Their kindness and the way they leaned into each other made my job effortless (plus mom nailed the outfits👏🏼)
I loved hearing their story and meeting this little fighter and his proud big brother. Along with all the other families from these past couple weeks!
Some chose to keep their stories private but they are equally as appreciated and special to me🤍
I’ll stop here for tonight and wrap this project up tomorrow
Thanks for being here 🫶🏼
🤎🤎NICU AWARENESS MONTH🤎🤎
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