1 pound 6 ounces baby Daxtyn is born a warrior

Shelby suffered from preeclampsia early in her pregnancy. She was in the hospital at 24 weeks and received a couple doses of steroids to help strengthen her son’s lungs. Although she went home after 4 days, Shelby ended up returning to labor and delivery at just under 25 weeks. The day after being admitted, she was airlifted from the hospital in San Angelo north to Fort Worth.

“Our future was definitely up in the air but little did we know we’d be meeting him 5 days later,” said Shelby.

Although Shelby was stable, the care team felt they needed to get her to a hospital with a higher level neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in case Daxtyn came early. After multiple doses of magnesium and sonograms in the new hospital, doctors realized cord flow was not where it needed to be. So, after a few days, they felt Daxtyn had a better chance of survival on the outside.

A few hours later they were in the operating room. “After a few minutes, we heard the tiniest little cry you’ve ever heard! I didn’t get to see my sweet boy as he was whisked away to the NICU immediately. We chose his name mainly because we just liked it, but a few days later we looked up the meaning and, turns out, Daxtyn means warrior. We knew it was meant to be,” said Shelby.

Daxtyn was born at 25 weeks and 6 days. He was born on September 3, 2017, one day before Labor Day. He came in at a whopping 1 pound, 6 ounces and 12 inches long.

The hospital introduced our fortifiers as early as they could. “It seems like once they did, his weight finally started taking off. He tolerated it well and never regressed with weight gain so that made us all very happy,” said Shelby.

In addition to hearing about Prolacta’s fortifiers from their doctor, the family had a personal connection. Before their journey with Daxtyn began, Shelby knew Christina Thomas, Corporate Account Executive, because she used to be her hairdresser. Once Daxtyn came into the picture, Shelby reached out to Christina to learn more about our products “She had just started with the company I believe, not long before we had Daxtyn, so that was a neat connection for sure,” said Shelby.

Daxtyn spent 95 days in the NICU. He was able to get discharged on December 7th, 4 days before his actual due date, and one day shy of his dad’s birthday. “To say that was the best gift he could receive would be an understatement,” said Shelby.

He was just over 6 pounds and had grown to 21 inches. He was released without monitors and was bottle fed with zero issues on straight breast milk. “We felt confident bringing him home as the nurses made it known they wouldn’t be sending him home if they weren’t 100% sure themselves he would be great,” said Shelby.

Shelby’s mom drove 4 hours from their hometown to help the family pack up and haul everything back home. “Our parents were our saving grace throughout our journey and still continue to be, daily,” added Shelby.

“Daxtyn celebrated his 6th birthday in September. He started kindergarten this fall and while we can’t tell just yet if he’s going to catch on as quickly as his older brother did, we do know he is as sweet as can be to his friends and his teacher just adores him,” said Shelby.

Daxtyn loves sports and has quite a knack for baseball. He has impressed many with his amazing swing. “He’s always in on any game his older brother is playing,” said Shelby.

“He’s got a smile that literally lights up a room and while thankfully he hasn’t suffered any major complications from his premature birth, he does struggle with vision in one eye with seeing distance, but his glasses are just the icing on the cake that makes up his VERY big personality! He’s got friends wherever he goes and never has a bad day,” added Shelby.