Supporting Birdie's NICU Journey

Many of you know that Whitney and Kyle were expecting twin girls this summer. They had the usual first-time parent nerves but were so excited to experience the unique adventure of having twins and watching them grow up together. They knew the bond of twins was special and they were looking forward to nurturing that bond and being a witness to their life growing up together and individually. Unfortunately, their dream was taken from them on April 17, 2023, when the girls were delivered via emergency c-section at just 25 weeks and 2 days after an unexplained placental abruption on baby A. Baby A, Ada Kay, was born at 12:32 pm and Baby B, Elizabeth “Birdie” James, was born at 12:33 pm.

Both girls were presenting as good as we could have hoped for. They were good color, crying, both breathing on their own, and had high APGAR scores for extreme premature babies. They were taken immediately by NICU for resuscitation and were stabilized relatively quickly. Whitney and Kyle were being prepared for a long NICU stay for both girls, at least until their due date of July 29, and warned that it would be a rollercoaster. Extremely premature birth age and low birth weight brings so many potential challenges including heart murmurs, brain bleeds or injury, eye development issues/blindness, lung disease, and more. This would not be a smooth road for either baby, but they were hopeful of their chances.

Tragically, just 36 hours into life, Ada started showing signs of struggle and it was determined that her lungs were becoming extremely diseased, a very common risk for extremely premature babies. She was intubated and given treatment to try and recover her lungs, but she declined quickly and ultimately suffered several brain hemorrhages. Ada passed away in her parents’ arms on April 20th at 5:30 am.

The grief has been paralyzing for Whitney and Kyle, but they still have a baby girl, Birdie, fighting in NICU and have done everything they can to be there for her every step of the way. She has been in NICU for 140 days and likely still has at least two months or more ahead of her. They have been at the hospital every single day with Birdie, meeting with her medical team, discussing treatments and potential challenges she still faces, and being her biggest cheerleaders.

Birdie has pulled through many challenges and has been so strong through it all. She has had several infections, a UTI, kidney stones, retinopathy of prematurity, and many other bumps along the way. She has BPD lung disease which is her biggest challenge to overcome to get home. She is still requiring a high level of respiratory support for her age and size, and until she can wean down to low-flow, she will be in the hospital. If that continues for too much longer, the doctors have talked to Whitney and Kyle about her need for a tracheostomy to get home which she would likely need for 6-12 months.

Because of her gestational age and the risks associated, she qualifies for a clinic through Primary Children’s where she will receive weekly therapies to track her development to catch any potential delays, including Cerebral Palsy, early, in hopes to intervene and minimize its impact on her life. Our hope is that ultimately, Birdie will heal and have as normal of a life as possible. Even if she encounters development delays, we know her parents will do everything possible to help her overcome them and accomplish whatever she wants in her life.

We as a family want to do anything we can to support Whitney, Kyle, and Birdie through these first challenging years of her life. Finances should be the last thing on their mind as they face these upcoming decisions. For example, being home on a trach is life changing for the entire family as Birdie would require constant monitoring and care. There is in-home medical support available, but insurance doesn’t usually cover what is required. We don’t want Whitney and Kyle to ever make a decision for Birdie based on finances.

We have received so much support, meal donations, acts of service and love from many of you and we are all so appreciative of your help. We have had several people reach out and ask how else they can help so we have decided to start a GoFundMe to provide a shareable resource for people to donate to. We sincerely thank any and all of you that have reached out, offered support, and that continue to cheer on our little Birdie. She has acquired quite the fan base in her short time here and continues to impress us every day. We will provide updates here when we can.

With love,

The Hancock/Arnett Families