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The following was sent to us by the IWK Foundation<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DARTMOUTH:<\/strong> When Morgan Kilfoil\u2019s water broke 11 weeks early in August 2023, neither she nor her partner, Brennan, could have predicted what their premature baby boy, Jesse, would have to overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morgan experienced a pregnancy complication called premature rupture of membranes (PROM). It\u2019s when the water breaks before 37 weeks of pregnancy and before contractions start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, this was not Morgan and Brennan\u2019s first pregnancy emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Months earlier, Morgan had tragically experienced an ectopic pregnancy (when a fertilized egg grows outside the uterus)\u2014a rare and life-threatening situation. She had to undergo emergency surgery at the IWK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ADVERTISEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”34″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”148″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morgan and Brennan were, naturally, devastated, and the deep and painful heartbreak of losing their pregnancy so soon After arriving at the IWK in August, Morgan immediately had an ultrasound, which showed Jesse\u2019s umbilical cord had dropped out of its normal position, dangerously cutting off his oxygen, reducing his heart rate and putting him at risk for brain damage. Morgan needed an emergency c-section to try to save Jesse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully, Jesse survived, but he weighed just three pounds and was not yet in the clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesse was immediately taken to the IWK\u2019s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for urgent life-saving care. He needed respiratory support and was placed in an incubator to help keep him warm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know how dangerous a baby coming that early really is,\u201d Brennan shared about the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ADVERTISEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”31″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate group=”6″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n A week after Jesse was born, Morgan discovered his diaper was full of blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, he had developed a serious illness called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which happens when tissue in the small or large intestine is injured or inflamed. It is the most common and serious intestinal disease among premature Jesse needed to be intubated and have a PICC line (a long, thin tube) inserted so his care team could give him the medications and nutrition he needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thankfully, Jesse recovered, but soon after, he faced another major obstacle when he developed a pulmonary hemorrhage (bleeding into the lung). <\/p>\n\n\n\n He needed to be intubated yet again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ADVERTISEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”71″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”93″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Jesse\u2019s care team discovered he had a pulmonary hemorrhage, Morgan, Brennan and their older son, Kurt, were just returning from the family lounge. They were shocked to find a large team of people in Jesse\u2019s room crowded around his bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what was happening,\u201d shares Morgan. \u201cJesse\u2019s colour looked off,\u201d adds Brennan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately, Jesse\u2019s health has continued to improve steadily since then, thanks to the swift actions of his IWK care team and the specialized care he has received. He continues to meet all his developmental goals and has even doubled his weight\u2014a big milestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After spending 73 days in the NICU with their son, the family is now where they belong\u2014at home, together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked about Jesse\u2019s care at the IWK, Brennan said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe average person probably doesn\u2019t understand how many magnitudes higher the level of care is here, but that\u2019s what\u2019s needed to help very sick babies like Jesse.\u201d And for Morgan, she quickly adds, \u201cIt means the difference of having Jesse here with us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n ADVERTISEMENT:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”192″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”169″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Kilfoil family of Dartmouth, N.S. will share their story on the 40th IWK Telethon for Children on CTV, airing Sunday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tune in to learn more about Jesse and other IWK patients who rely on the generous support of the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To donate to this year\u2019s Telethon to help support specialized care for IWK patients like Jesse, please visit www.iwkfoundation.org or call toll-free at 1-800-595-2266.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”210″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”127″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [adrotate banner=”105″] [adrotate banner=”111″] The following was sent to us by the IWK Foundation DARTMOUTH: When Morgan Kilfoil\u2019s water broke 11 weeks early in August 2023, neither she nor her partner, Brennan, could have predicted what their premature baby boy, Jesse, would have to overcome. Morgan experienced a pregnancy complication called premature rupture of membranes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[957],"tags":[185,30,31,1461,6800],"class_list":["post-45591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dartmouth","tag-iwk","tag-iwk-foundation","tag-iwk-telethon","tag-kilfoil-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
and unexpectedly made them fear they\u2019d lose their unborn son, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
babies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n