From NICU to Home: A Tiny Warrior's Fight

“My pregnancy with Amiyah was unexpected. Everything went really great during the pregnancy until my 20-week anatomy scan,” recalls Rhiannon Kielbasa.

“She was perfectly healthy and growing right on track, but I had a premature opening of my cervix and I had to have a cervical cerclage placed at 20 weeks,” Rhiannon said. “Having the cerclage placed, I was given a NICU consult, so we made it to 27 weeks and that was my last visit with maternal fetal medicine. And then at 29 weeks, I started going into preterm labor and I came here and the doctors admitted me and they were able to stop it until 30 weeks and four days.”

That 11-week delay allowed little Amiyah Caldwell critical time for development, but she was still premature. Amiyah spent more than six weeks at the Franciscan Health Indianapolis neonatal intensive care unit after her birth. There, she was under the 24-hour care of in-house, experienced staff in the Level III NICU.

“She was originally intubated, but she was extubated within 24 hours and she was in the NICU for 44 days,” Rhiannon said. “The staff was really the best thing for me because here's my tiny little 3-pound baby and I can't be with her. I don't know how to take care of her yet. So they were just so amazing and patient and just understanding.

“Our NICU stay with her was great,” Rhiannon recalls. “They never made us feel like a bother, like we were asking too many questions or if we wanted time to just talk about things or be explained things, they were always amazing about it."

“The private room was amazing. It was really nice to be able to stay in there with our baby alone with her because she was so small that we didn't get to hold her at first. So still getting that private time with her was something that was really special to me.”

At exactly 36 weeks gestation, Amiyah was able to come home.

“Graduation day was probably the best day that we've got to experience with her,” her father, Malik Caldwell, said. “She had the little pink cap on with her little go home outfit. They were a little bit baggy pants, but she was cute.”

There will be doctor visits and developmental checks, but Amiyah’s future stretches bright, filled with the promise of birthday parties, first steps and endless cuddles.

“I would like to personally thank Franciscan Health from the bottom of my heart,” Rhianna said. “Without them, without maternal fetal medicine specialists, without an amazing NICU team, my daughter may not be here today.”