Family Story Assets (Word Document, Photos)
Click here to download
Interview with Lauren Pimpare, new MOD Boston board member, and mom of Boston, born at 34 weeks.
In 2011, I was working as a hospital administrator and was pregnant with my second child. I carried my first child for 41 weeks, but the second time around, my water broke at 32 weeks. I rushed to the hospital where I worked and was put on bedrest. Our goal was to get me to 34 weeks and, like clockwork, my contractions started two weeks later. Boston was born face first — not head first, but face first. He was lifeless. The NICU team was already in the room, and they revived him after two minutes. His APGAR score was zero.
Boston was whisked out of the room to the NICU. There were no congratulations. Nobody asked us what his name was. In the NICU, Boston was awake, stable and breathing on his own. My husband and I didn’t understand the magnitude of what had happened.
After a week, our doctor brought us into a large room filled with NICU nurses and neonatologists, and just a huge group, because these people knew me — they were my co-workers and they felt a responsibility. They told us that Boston showed limited brain activity. Our son would be completely dependent on us, they said. He’d need a feeding tube; he’d be a vegetable. Afterward, when we were alone, my husband and I made a promise that we would do everything we could to help Boston reach his full potential.
He spent 40 days in the NICU. We held him and did kangaroo care all day, every day. I will never forget when the March of Dimes showed up and brought a purple bag filled with all kinds of baby stuff and resources for once we had left the hospital. They made a cast out of Boston’s footprint for us, and that was the first moment I felt like, “Oh yeah, I’m a mother.” They gave me that. We have experienced such kindness and support. We truly understand what joy is.
This story doesn’t end with Boston kicking a ball on a soccer field at age 6. He is blind, and he cannot sit, walk or talk. He has cerebral palsy and a seizure disorder and has been in and out of the hospital so many times. We’ve traveled all over for different therapies. He’s very smart, he just has no way to communicate it. And now he’s a big brother to little sister Coco, 2. He just loves his sisters, and they love him.
I got involved with the March of Dimes because I want to ensure that no family has to go through what we went through. I don’t want any mom to cry. I don’t want any dad to cry. I just want it to be what it’s supposed to be when you bring a healthy baby into this world. If we can just keep those babies in for 40 weeks, then we can give every baby a fighting chance.
