Jazlyn's story
PATTY AND BRITTNEY ARE MOMS WHO HAD THEIR BABIES IN THE NICU.
THIS IS PATTY AND HER DAUGHTER, JAZLYN'S STORY.
Jazlyn Mier was born at 27 weeks gestation. She weighed 2 pounds and measured 13 ¾ inches long. Jazlyn like most preemies had chronic lung diseases, was anemic, and had a grade 4 bilateral brain bleed on both sides of her brain.
She spent 100 days in our NICU and was discharged with the ng tube. The ng tube was removed about a month and a half after we were discharged. Jazlyn has been in physical and occupational therapy since she was born.
She was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy at the age of 3 due to the grade 4 brain bleed. Her right side is weaker than her left. She started speech therapy at the age of four. She is currently in first grade and receives extra help after school and is on an IEP (Individualized Education Program).
Being in the NICU for those 100 days with her made me appreciate the staff at the unit. Only Jazlyn's father and I would visit her every day. We had family but they weren't as supportive as the staff. I felt so alone and like no one understood me.
I became friends with parents that were in the NICU at the same time as Jaz. I saw how much better it was to talk to somebody who was going and feeling what I was feeling at the time.
That always stood in the back of my mind. I started working to support other parents when Jazlyn was about a year and a half. I absolutely love what I do.