ByMariah Congedo|May 10, 2020 at 8:20 PM EDT - Updated May 10 at 10:57 PM
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) -One mother got the best present she says she could’ve wished for this Mother’s Day. After 17 days in the NICU first-time mother Mercedes McCumber gets to take her baby home.
Mercedes McCumber had her baby boy, Zaylan, at 33 weeks. Because of the early delivery, he had to spend more than 2 weeks in the NICU.
According to the family’s nurse, a baby has to meet several requirements before they can go home. There was no telling when that would happen. On Mother’s Day, the call came in that her baby was ready to go home. McCumber says she was jumping for joy for many reasons including that she could be with her son on her first Mother’s Day.
“It makes me feel so good that he is home for Mother’s Day because I’m able to spend my first Mother’s Day with my baby being home with me, so I’m very happy,” McCumber said.
“Knowing that he’s ready and he gets to go home and spend the night with her is definitely exciting for us as the caregivers,” said Nurse Taylor Briggs.
It’s not easy to be a parent with a child in the NICU. Right now, it’s especially hard.
“For a while, we were allowing only Mothers up to the unit to see their babies," says Briggs. "On Wednesday we started allowing two parents, so moms and dads were able to come up.”
McCumber says she lives close to two hours away from the hospital. During a long drive home, Memorial Hospital does what they call the ‘car seat challenge.’
“Depending on if they live and hour and half or two hours away or even longer, we sit them in their car seat monitoring their heart rate, respiratory rate and their oxygen level,” Briggs said.
Luckily now there won’t be any more distance between mother and son.
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