KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (WPVI) — After 236 days in the neonatal intensive care unit, Action News reporter Sharifa Jackson and her husband are finally home with their daughter, Arya Marvella.
Arya was born on Aug. 13 at 24 weeks, weighing just more than a pound.
Sharifa said everything felt normal until it suddenly was not.
“I knew she would come home one day. I just didn’t know. I couldn’t imagine it, then I stopped imagining it once we were getting longer and longer, and she wasn’t home yet,” Sharifa said.
It was just three hours from when Sharifa began feeling unwell, to being rushed to the hospital and delivering Arya, 16 weeks early.
“I didn’t know anything about a NICU or NICU life or a baby that could weigh one pound,” she said.
Sharifa’s husband, Jaro, was at work when he received the call.
“I went to the emergency room to pick her up that she was dehydrated, by the time I get there sorry…” Jaro said.
Arya spent eight months in the NICU.
Sharifa and Jaro closely watched the monitors, praying daily. A month had passed before Sharifa could hold her daughter for the first time.
Arya was treated for a heart defect, severe lung disease and has received multiple blood transfusions.
“We’ve been through so many hospitals. Everybody, our nurses, doctors from Jersey, to CHOP, to king of Prussia, every person who cared for her loved her so much. I never worried when we weren’t at the hospital because they took care of her like their own,” Sharifa said.
Sharifa said Arya’s strength showed through even during the most difficult moments.
“We had a really sunny day. She got to go outside in the stroller first time ever, experience the sunshine and air. I think she decided, you know what, I don’t want to be in this hospital room anymore, let me pick it up,” she said.
In the final weeks, Arya made rapid progress at hitting her goals, speeding up the process to get her to go home.
Doctors and nurses lined the hallway and cheered Arya on as she said goodbye to her days in the NICU.
“I think we got on the steps I said, whose baby is this? Not that I couldn’t imagine it happening, it was just it was so long we got used to living in the NICU,” Sharifa said. “When you get to this point and can bring your baby home, you don’t remember the other times.”
Sharifa said there are too many doctors and nurses to thank, from Virtua to CHOP and King of Prussia. She said faith carried them through the last eight months.
Now home, they are looking forward to stroller walks outside, dressing Arya in bows and playtime with her older sister, Cali.
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