At their 20-week ultrasound, Miranda and Brent learned their baby had a congenital diaphragmatic hernia, where the diaphragm does not close during development and abdominal organs can move into the chest and crowd the heart and lungs. The local care team referred them to University of Iowa Health Care, so that neonatologists could care for their son immediately after birth. The idea of daily travel from their home in Dayton, over two and a half hours away, to the NICU in Iowa City was daunting. When Miranda mentioned her concerns about how she would stay close to her baby during a lengthy NICU stay, the care team told her about Ronald McDonald House. “It made it so easy to be with him every day and see how he was doing. We were told he would be in the NICU for six months to a year.”
Fortunately, Miranda’s son required just over two months of care in the NICU before being discharged home. During that time, the doting parents were able to stay just minutes down the road at Ronald McDonald House without the financial burden of living away from her home for months. “If I did not have this opportunity to stay here, I would have to either drive back and forth or not be able to be with him at all. I was able to have my family stay with me on the weekends so I could still spend time with them. The staff is amazing, and so helpful and nice. They made it easier to be able to be with my baby.” After 64 nights at the Ronald McDonald House, the family was able to go home.
