Their special day? May 11
Several in family share that birthday, now preemie going home on Mother's Day
Andrea Jaffray already had a lot to celebrate on Mother's Day. It's her birthday, and her husband, Alex Jaffray, and two of their sons were born on May 11, too.
Now, it looks like she'll have one more thing to celebrate this Sunday: Her newborn son, Zachary, is expected to come home after weeks in intensive care at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he has been since he was born by emergency C-section on April 15. Eight weeks premature, he was just 3 pounds, 11 ounces.
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
By Sunday, Zachary should be home with his family in Franklin Park.
It couldn't be soon enough for Andrea Jaffray. She's been splitting her time between Zachary at the hospital and her four other sons at home.
"I figure I'll finally be able to rest when he comes home," she said.
Zachary's birth followed a difficult pregnancy that required Jaffray to be on bed rest at Loyola for seven weeks. She was admitted to the hospital in February after her water broke five months into the pregnancy. Usually, the amniotic sac breaks within a week of delivery.
The combination of Zachary's early birth and the premature rupturing of the amniotic sac increased the odds that Zachary would be born with severe developmental problems or that he would suffer life-threatening blood loss during delivery. But he has done well.
"For Zachary to be born without infections and with relatively healthy lungs . . . is nothing short of a miracle," said Dr. Jonathan Muraskas, co-medical director of neonatal intensive care at Loyola. "He surprised us all."
And it looks like Zachary won't have any lingering health problems, according to Muraskas.
No matter what else she might get this Mother's Day, Andrea Jaffray said the gift she'll be celebrating is Zachary.
"I couldn't ask for anything more than that, for him to be healthy," she said. "I feel really blessed right now."
