Mckenzi’s road from micropreemie to first birthday

When Ginny Hardwick went into labor at 22 weeks, she was terrified for her daughter, Mckenzi, and what her future may hold. Through patience, persistence and a wonderful team of labor and delivery doctors and nurses at Mercy Health – St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital’s Birthing Center, Ginny’s labor was held off for 2 weeks. Mckenzi made her entrance into the world on Easter Sunday 2024. She weighed 1.3 pounds, comparable to a Barbie doll.

The tiny-but-mighty baby girl spent the next 4 months in the Akron Children’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Mckenzi worked hard on her breathing. When she had a setback, the respiratory team was always exceedingly positive and encouraging, often joking, “No worries, she’s just a spunky baby. She’ll get it next time.”

In addition to her respiratory needs, Mckenzi was born with a hole in her heart known as a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and a stretched patent foramen ovale (PFO) that typically closes for full-term babies. Dr. Grace Smith, director, Heart Center Mahoning Valley, and pediatric cardiology, oversees Mckenzi’s heart care. On McKenzi’s most worrisome days, her providers made sure to inform Mckenzi’s parents what to expect and held their hands throughout the journey. Before her first birthday, the PDA had shrunk to 1 millimeter and no longer required follow-up until she turns 3 years old.

Having a micropreemie makes those early days of parenthood very different from the typical experience. Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy visited with Mckenzi and family often to teach her parents how they can be involved with her care and do the “normal” things like diaper changes and feeding, just in an altered way to meet Mckenzi’s needs at her tiny size.

Her parents thank the NICU staff for keeping them not only informed on Mckenzi’s medical needs and progress, but also for their support during the lengthy stay.

“We appreciated the people who took extra time to cheer our kiddo on when she hit major milestones,” said Ginny. “They made holidays special in the NICU like making signs to hang up in her room, crafts with her footprints and handprints as she grew. Everyone from nursing, respiratory and therapy did an awesome job helping to move Mckenzi from her incubator so that I could hold her every day. I loved when she moved to a ‘big-girl room’ with windows and ‘made’ me a birthday card.”

Mckenzi just celebrated her first birthday at home in Columbiana. The day was filled with crawling, cooing and plenty of birthday cake frosting. Yum!