Felo’s Story

As a twin born at 26 weeks, 3 days, weighing just 1lb, 15oz, and facing several severe medical complications, milk recipient baby Rafael “Felo” received 5,514 ounces donor human milk from April until November, 2014. His parents express how grateful they are for generous milk donors who provided lifesaving milk to their son when he had to spend 3.5 months in the NICU after developing necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a potentially fatal intestinal disorder.

On August 15, 2013, our twins came into this world at only 26 weeks and 3 days.  Camila “Mila” Jane and Rafael “Felo” Joseph both weighed in at 1 lb 15 oz.   After a few hours in recovery, I wanted to start pumping.  My nurse helped me hand express the first few days until my supply was established enough for pumping.  I knew that breast milk was very important especially for preterm infants.

The babies were doing well considering their early arrival.  But on September 1, 2013, Felo’s small intestine was found to be perforated – it had a hole it in.  He was gravely ill and wasn’t supposed to make it; as just one sign of his stress, his heart rate was well over 250 bpm.  But, after 24 hours, he stabilized and began his recovery.

After two-weeks of not being able to be fed, the team felt Felo was ready to give it a try.  The feeding didn’t go well, and Felo showed signs of a problem; he was moved to an operating room for exploratory surgery, and on September 17, 2013, my sweet boy had nearly 20% of his small intestine removed.  The bowel that remained was not exactly healthy, but the surgeon felt that it could heal with antibiotics. That was yet another sleepless night, as he was very unstable; but, he was born a fighter, and managed to recover again.

We brought the babies home mid-November (one day before my due date).  After a week at home with both babies exclusively on breast milk, I noticed Felo wasn’t growing and he was having increasing difficulty with his feedings.  Felo, unfortunately, was admitted back to the NICU for further observations.  At that point the team thought it was best to try feeding a breast milk substitute, an elemental formula made for babies with feeding issues.  He was doing well for about a week until we got the dreaded news that he had Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC), which is the leading cause of death in preterm infants.  We were devastated.  His bowels were sick, and he was at risk of another perforation and surgery was considered.

At that point, the team decided that it was in Felo’s best interest that we transfer to another NICU for more specialized care.  

We packed up our family, my frozen breast milk, and headed to Houston.  What was supposed to be a 4-week stay turned into 3.5 months.  My frozen stash dwindled and we had to turn to donor milk during our NICU stay. I continued to breastfeed Felo’s twin sister, but I didn’t have enough milk for both of them.

After the hospital made several attempts to transition Felo to formulas, it became apparent that he could only tolerate breast milk.  So on March 17, 2013, we were discharged from the NICU with a central line for a nutritional supplement called Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), and a prescription for donor human milk.

Felo has been on donor human milk from the milk bank ever since.  This has allowed his gut to continue healing, and his body and brain to grow, while I was able to continue breastfeeding his sister.  We are all forever grateful to the donors and the Mothers’ Milk Bank of Austin.  Pumping is a true labor of love and your love has saved my son’s life.