A few years ago, I was contacted and asked to create a series of portraits for INOVA Fairfax Hospital’s new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The idea was to photograph “graduates” of the NICU and then the design company would overlay text on the portraits to show their birth weight, and how long they were in the NICU, but then to counter that with their current age and favorite hobbies and interests.
Of course I jumped at the opportunity, and I met some absolutely incredible families and children!! Those portraits of NICU graduates have been hanging on the walls of the Fairfax INOVA NICU for three years now. Since then, I’ve had so many families reach out to me to tell me how reassuring it is to walk the halls and find there is a lot of hope when you are facing a scary prognosis or long stay in the hospital.
When the same design company reached out to me again this year to do a similar project for Fair Oaks INOVA’s NICU, I excitedly agreed. The project is now in its final stages, with the text being added to the final portrait selections, and the framed photos should go up on their walls within the next few weeks. So awesome!
Without further ado, here are the 6 sessions I did of INOVA Fair Oaks NICU graduates this summer and a little of their stories.
This is Luca! He was born at 34 weeks, weighing only 4lbs, 7oz. He spent two weeks in the NICU. He’s now 5 years old and loves Tai Kwon Do, swimming and airplanes!
Austin, Emma and Riley (above) are three siblings who are all NICU graduates! Austin, who is now 7, was born at 25 weeks and weighed only 1 lb 12 oz. He spent three months in the NICU and now loves sports. His sister, Emma, now 3 years old, was born at 30 weeks, weighing 3lb 12oz and spent 2 months in the NICU and now loves singing. Their baby sister, Riley, was born at 34 weeks along and weighed 4lbs 13oz. She spent a month in the NICU and was only 6 weeks old when I photographed them. She loves sleeping and eating. LOL!
The above portraits are of Gracie. She was born at 32 weeks, weighing 3lbs, 5 oz. She spent 39 days in the NICU. She’s now 5 1/2 years old and loves riding her bike, swimming, singing and dancing!
Hayden and Corinne (aka HayHay and CoCo) are twin sisters who were born at 32 weeks weighing 4lb 12oz and 4lb 7oz. They spent 3 weeks, 1 day and 3 weeks 4 days in the NICU and are now 4 years old! They both love their family, riding bikes, dolls and dancing!
Lottie was born with Down Syndrome at 39 weeks and 7lbs 7oz. She spent 7 days in the hospital and is now 3 1/2 years old. She loves dancing, music, dolls, preschool, her two sisters, and dogs! Blue and yellow are the colors of Down Syndrome awareness.
These quadruplets, yes QUADRUPLETS!, are now 16 years old, but were born at 31 weeks weighing between 2-3 lbs each. They all left the NICU at different times, ranging from 6 weeks to 6 months. From tallest to shortest, Allie, loves reading, gymnastics and volleyball. Christopher loves video games, watching movies and jumping on the trampoline. Maria loves cooking, arts and crafts, and Michael loves fishing, video games, and aquariums.
Aren’t they all amazing!? Such miracles! When captioning each of these photos, I was tempted to write that they were all the sweetest, which probably wouldn’t have sounded genuine after writing it the sixth time, but they really were all so sweet!! I had so much fun meeting them and am truly blessed to have been a part of this experience again.
Do you have your own NICU graduate? Post a comment to share your inspiring story!
