Hayden and Bryson NICU Wall of Hope Twins Hayden and Bryson, 9, love hunting, soccer and dirt bikes – as their mom puts it, anything dangerous. “If they could live outside, they would,” she says. They were born at 31 weeks gestation; Hayden weighed 3 lbs, 5 oz and spent four months in the NICU, and Bryson weighed 3 lbs, 10 oz and spent a little over a month in the NICU. Hayden got his feeding tube out about three years after he left the NICU, and “hasn’t stopped eating since.” He can do all the same things that everyone else can do, even jumping in the river near their fishing camp with Bryson. Looking back, their mom would tell other parents to be as involved as possible. “Take your baby’s temperature. Change his diaper,” she says. “Do everything you can to bond with your baby and nurture him.”
