Being the parents of a premature baby is a unique experience. Each couple handles their situation differently depending on their baby and individual circumstances. All parents of preemies, however, will agree that finding time and ways for happiness is always important.
A couple on TikTok are sharing their experiences as parents of a micro-preemie. One of the ways they’ve found joy is buying their daughter a Halloween costume from Build-A-Bear Workshop to make her look like a Disney princess. It was something small for them but so joyful.
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The idea is really sweet.
New parents Kaitlynn and Bailey Miesner shared a video on Kaitlynn’s TikTok of them going to the popular stuffed animal store to choose an outfit for their baby girl Harlow. In the video, they can be seen picking out the dress worn by Belle in the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast.
The couple are trying to find joy in the difficulty of having a baby in the NICU.
Bailey told People that getting the costume was Kaitlynn’s idea, saying his wife “always has great ideas like that, being positive.” He also added that the staff at the hospital “makes it easy for us” to do fun things with their daughter.
“We went out and bought a bear this past weekend from Build-A-Bear so that one day we’ll show her, ‘You were small enough to wear this!’ because at 7 months, she’s still that small,” he explained.
“You just have to find fun where you can. We just choose to be thankful and realize we’re lucky for every day she’s here with us,” Kaitlynn shared.
Their daughter Harlow hasn't had the easiest start.
The parents told the magazine that the beginning of Harlow’s life has been an uphill fight. At Kaitlynn’s 19-week scan, doctors told them their daughter was measuring as if she was 17 weeks old. A month later, during her 24-week visit, the fetus was measuring 20 weeks.
Kaitlynn was air-lifted to a hospital over two hours away because “they thought that she would be delivered pretty soon with how small she was and how she wasn’t seeming to get any nutrients,” she explained, via People. They were told that their baby likely wouldn’t survive.
“It was hard, when they told us that. They didn’t know what was wrong. They asked us if we wanted to try to resuscitate or do comfort care. It’s hard to choose something like that because you don’t ever know,” Bailey explained. “You don’t want to not give her a chance, but Kaitlynn and I felt like that was no way to live, not the quality of life we’d wanted for her.”
After a scary entrance into the world, Harlow is fighting.
Weeks later, the parents returned to the hospital. “We stayed there a total of eight days before they had to do an emergency C-section because her heart rate kept dropping,” Kaitlynn shared. “They got her out as quickly as they could.”
The parents shared that Harlow “surprised” them by being 14.5 oz. at birth. The little one has been pushing forward ever since. New mom Kaitlynn explained that her daughter has a chronic lung disease because she was “so premature.”
“Right now, they’re working on her breathing and hopefully be able to get her down to one liter of a nasal cannula to get to come home,” she shared with People.
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This hasn't been an easy seven months, but the parents are hopeful.
“Everybody who loves Harlow is going through it, but no one like me and Kaitlynn. I think we definitely hold each other up, at different times when one is more sad than the other,” Bailey said.
They’re sharing their story on social media to show people what it’s like to have a preemie and to make fellow preemie parents feel less alone. But they’re also doing it to show their daughter one day how hard she fought to be alive. “She’s fought hard and I think it’s right to share that, for all the other babies fighting. We know we’re a rare case, but it happens,” Bailey said.
The parents hope they can have Harlow home in time for Christmas, but they’re just happy their baby girl is with them.
