Meet Eli Poblocki

Four months.  A lot can happen in this time.  Fall can pass into winter and back into spring.  A fetus can fully develop his lungs, his nervous system can mature, he can produce melanin, he begins regulating his own body temperature, his bones strengthen, and he begins to tune into the outside world as he calibrates his internal systems.  All that can happen in 16 weeks.  

 

Because Eli was born on June 14th, 2016 through an emergency cesarean section roughly four months early, he needed to spend 141 days (over a quarter of a year) at Connecticut Children's.  During his stay at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit within Connecticut Children's, a lot happened. 

 

The medical team reminded his family: if Eli survives, he’d now be faced with an 85% chance of a major disability, which would significantly alter his life.  Cerebral Palsy would be a likely outcome. “Prepare yourselves,” his first doctor warned. “This is going to be a long road.”   

 

Eli came into this world at 1 lb. 7 oz.; he was only given a 13% chance of survival, but this story has a happy ending.  Even though the doctors and nurses emphatically argued that Eli’s miraculous outcome was the result of loving family members being present and holding Eli skin to skin, the fact that Eli beat the odds is attributable to the excellent care by the smartest and most skilled team at Connecticut Children's in both Hartford and Farmington, CT. 

 

Eli survived. With the help of everyone in his corner, he beat the odds. While he is still overcoming challenges related to his early start, Eli continues to grow and develop and thrive.  

 

With his 141 day stay at Connecticut Children's, Eli would need surgery to repair his Patent Ductus Arteriosus to allow his lungs to remain fluid free, surgery to insert a gastronomy button to remedy damage inflicted during the former procedure, surgery to repair his retina that had been damaged due to oxygen exposure, and although Eli would go on to need months continuous fortified nutrition on a feeding pump, nebulizer treatments, cortisol replacement, eating therapies, occupational therapy, and birth-to-three intervention, his family is not only supremely grateful for what happened, but overwhelmingly aware of what could have happened.  

 

Despite the common struggles faced by the vast majority of micro-preemies, Eli continues to face his challenges with bravery, confidence, and an ear-to-ear smile.  For years after he first learned to talk, he’d repeat the mantra: “I am strong.  I am brave.  I can do anything!”  

 

Eli spent more than an entire season in this world, in the NICU, when other babies would have been content to “cook” (as his mom refers to it) a bit longer, but with Eli’s extended stay, his first home was Connecticut Children's NICU.  Eli’s been living in Colchester for over seven years now, where he enjoys reading, telling jokes and stories, swimming, petting cats, and especially, building LEGO sets. He recently helped plant a small garden he helps tend.  And he looks forward to his annual summer trip to Ocean City. 

 

Eli’s grateful for the “Welcome Home” program in making his second home as special as his first. 

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Story shared by Elaine and Patrick Poblocki