Premature Resilience

Edition 1/1

This moment was an island of love and joy, in an ocean of fear and anxiety.

I found out I was going to be a dad 1.5 months before New York City shut down and became an epicenter for the spread of COVID-19.

Our baby ended up coming into the world 2.5 months earlier than expected, and was born in July of 2020, after my wife spent 18 days in the hospital on bedrest. I captured this photo in the extremely short amount of time he was with us post birth before rushed to the NICU, where he would be for the next 2 months. The NICU journey was long, and scary, and often times just felt unfair, and all this was heightened by the pandemic happening outside the doors, and the restrictions put in place inside the hospital.

Moment by moment he grew stronger and went from a 3 pound premie baby who couldn't breathe on his own, to a now almost 30 pound toddler who runs around the apartment all day.

I have thought about the resilience in the perseverance of life, every day since.