LONG VERSION

MEET THE KANELLAKES

Dana and Chris Kanellakes had a long road in order to get pregnant—“We had to do IVF and the first time that we tried it, it didn't work,” Dana said. “The second time it did work and we ended up with the twins, and we were very excited.”

At her 20-week ultrasound, Dana found out that while her babies were doing great, her cervix was already shortening and the doctors weren't sure how long she’d be able to keep the babies in. They were told to try to just get them to 28 weeks.

Natalia and Christian were born 10 weeks early and weighed 3 pounds, 6 ounces and 2 pounds, 10 ounces. Christian was born unresponsive and had to resuscitated by the NICU team. “The first time I saw the babies in the NICU I’d actually just come out of recovery so it was very scary. It was the middle of the night. They were in the incubators—we couldn't hold them; we couldn't touch them.”

They’re thankful for the amazing doctors and nurses in the NICU who helped them through this stressful time. After 49 days in the NICU, Natalia was able to go home. “We were very nervous because she was still very little—she was only about 5 pounds when we brought her home,” Dana recalled. “We knew it would be difficult to have one there, one here, but we were also really excited that she could finally come home.”

Then, after 77 days in the NICU, Christian was able to go home. They thank March of Dimes and everyone involved for being able to take home two healthy babies. When she had gone into preterm labor, Dana received surfactant treatment (a substance that keeps the tiny air sacs in the lung open) which was developed by research funded by March of Dimes. “They were able to breathe without any help at all in about five days,” she remembered. “March of Dimes gave us a lot of support while we were in the NICU as well.”

Today, they help raise funds every year for March for Babies. “We support March of Dimes because they were such an integral part of having Natalia and Christian get to the point where they are today—six years old and healthy and happy,” said Chris. “It's just a great organization to be a part of and we always made the commitment after the kids were born that we want to give back. We want to be able to tell the story for those people that hopefully don't have to go through it, but if they do, to know what's available to them.”

 

SHORT VERSION

MEET THE KANELLAKES

Dana and Chris Kanellakes had a long road in order to get pregnant—after their second IVF, they ended up with the twins and were excited. However, at their 20-week ultrasound, Dana found out that while the babies were fine, her cervix was shortening and the doctors weren't sure how long she’d be able to keep the babies in. Natalia and Christian were born 10 weeks early and weighed 3 pounds, 6 ounces and 2 pounds, 10 ounces. Christian was born unresponsive and had to resuscitated. They’re thankful for the amazing doctors and nurses in the NICU who helped them through this stressful time.

After 49 days in the NICU, Natalia was able to go home. “We were very nervous because she was still very little—she was only about 5 pounds when we brought her home,” Dana recalled. “We knew it would be difficult to have one there, one here, but we were also really excited that she could she could finally come home.” 

Then, after 77 days in the NICU, Christian was able to go home. They thank March of Dimes and everyone involved for being able to take home two healthy babies, and today they raise funds every year for March for Babies. “It's just a great organization to be a part of and we always made the commitment after the kids were born that we want to give back,” said Chris. “We want to be able to tell the story for those people that hopefully don't have to go through it but if they do to know what's available to them.”