Born at 23 weeks: Emma Kate’s remarkable NICU journey at Lakeside Hospital

Bridget DiFranco, 29, was just 21 weeks pregnant with twins when she was rushed to Lakeside Hospital in Metairie, Louisiana, after spotting blood. It was Father’s Day, June 18, 2017, and this was the first pregnancy for her and her husband, Tom. 

It had been a normal and healthy pregnancy up to this point. They were relieved knowing the anatomy scan at 18 weeks was normal and had already found out they were having a boy and a girl, naming their babies Jack Thomas and Emma Katheryna (Emma Kate). They had ordered two cribs and were already prepping the nursery and planning the baby shower. 

When Bridget arrived at the hospital that Sunday, she learned she was already dilated two centimeters and in active labor. It was early — far too early — and she was incredibly scared of what might happen next. 

“At the time, my doctors said they had to intervene at 25 weeks. At 23 and 24 weeks was parent choice, and at 21 and 22 weeks, they would not do anything at the time,” Bridget said. “I was 21 weeks and obviously terrified.” 

Then came the devastating news that Jack’s amniotic sac had ruptured. 

Doctors told Bridget he would likely deliver within 12 to 24 hours, and Emma Kate would likely follow. At 21 weeks, the twins were still extremely early and unlikely to survive, so doctors did everything they could to prevent Jack from being delivered. 

“For almost two weeks, he stayed put. He did not deliver,” Bridget said. “It’s totally miraculous. They were giving me magnesium to try to slow down labor, and he just didn’t deliver. He got his sister to 23 weeks, which is still incredible to me. He saved his sister’s life.” 

At exactly 23 weeks’ gestation, Jack’s heart stopped beating. Two days later, Bridget delivered him. A few hours later, Emma Kate was born on June 29, 2017, weighing just 1 pound, 6 ounces. 

The family was grieving the loss of Jack while facing another unimaginable uncertainty: whether Emma Kate would survive. She was immediately cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Lakeside Hospital, where she would spend the next 129 days. 

“It wasn’t day by day. It was minute by minute,” Bridget said. “One minute, she would be fine. The next minute, she would be desatting. The next minute, you would hear all these alarms go off. There was really no telling if she was going to make it.” 

Emma Kate faced serious medical challenges in the NICU. She was intubated for about two months. She spent time in an isolette before she was strong enough to move to an open crib. For Bridget and Tom, every change mattered. Every small step forward felt significant. 

For weeks, Bridget could touch Emma Kate and help with small parts of her care, including diaper changes, but she could not hold her. Then, when Emma Kate was about three weeks old, Bridget was finally able to hold her daughter for the first time. 

“She was so little, and I was so nervous about holding her,” Bridget said. “I was so scared because she was attached to so many machines.” 

Bridget remembers the nurses who were there that day and several other members of the care team, too. 

“There were eight medical professionals making sure everything was going okay,” Bridget said. “They were making sure her oxygen levels were okay, that her heart rate was okay, that everything was staying plugged in.” 

The moment was carefully managed, but it was also deeply personal. Bridget had waited weeks for skin-to-skin contact with her daughter. 

“When you do skin to skin, there’s that beautiful moment of their heart rate regulating and their oxygen saturation going up, and feeling that comfort between the mom and the baby,” Bridget said. “I had waited so long for that.” 

A NICU team that became family 

For Bridget and Tom, the medical care Emma Kate received was lifesaving, but what stayed with Bridget was also the way the Lakeside team cared for the whole family. 

At the time, Bridget and Tom lived in Metairie, about 10 minutes from the hospital, with no family living nearby. During those long NICU days, the doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, therapists and staff became the people they leaned on. 

“We didn’t have family there. They became our family,” Bridget said. 

That kind of special care began immediately. After Jack died, one nurse quilted the family a blanket and wrote them a letter. 

“That letter, to this day, I would burst into tears if I read it again,” she said. “That’s how we felt with the nurses there. Family.” 

Bridget still remembers many of the people who cared for Emma Kate and supported her family, including Trey Dunbar, MD, Lisa Barbiero, MD, Elizabeth Lindsay, MD, and Jay Goldsmith, MD. She also remembers nurse practitioners Karen, Jessica, Carsten, and Angie, along with nurses Misty, Amber, Janie, Kristi, Samantha, Alyssa, and Courtney. Two of Emma Kate’s primary nurses, Anna and Celeste, became especially important during the family’s journey. 

“If Emma Kate was with either of those on a day, we knew it was going to be a good day,” Bridget said. “We would go in there first thing in the morning, or my husband would on his way to work, and say, ‘It’s going to be a good day. Celeste is there,’ or, ‘It’s going to be a good day. Anna’s there.’” 

Bridget said Emma Kate was always in good hands, but the consistency of her primary nurses helped the family feel more comfortable. 

“They would make sure little things would get done,” Bridget said. “They would be the ones to announce milestones, saying, ‘Today’s the day she can wear clothes,’ or, ‘Today’s the day we’re going to move her into an open crib.’” 

The nurse practitioners also played a major role in Bridget and Tom’s daily experience. Bridget said doctors rounded and made the major medical decisions, but the nurse practitioners were often the ones who sat with them, explained what was happening and helped them process each new development. 

“They sat down with us, cried with us if we needed to cry, and really got into the bedside manner, to care for not only Emma Kate, but for us, too,” Bridget said. “We needed it.” 

Preparing to bring Emma Kate home 

For a family living through the uncertainty of the NICU, those small moments were not so little. They were signs that Emma Kate was getting stronger. Her progress was supported by the entire care team, including physical therapist Jeannie Bischoff and occupational therapist Moujdeh Scott. 

In her last month in the NICU, the Lakeside team helped Bridget and Tom prepare to care for Emma Kate after discharge, including teaching them infant massage techniques and helping address bottle-feeding challenges. The care team helped Bridget learn how to support her daughter’s development, understand her needs and feel more confident taking her home. 

“They empowered me with so many more skills and knowledge than I ever thought possible,” Bridget said. “They gave me that confidence.” 

On November 5, 2017, after 129 days in the NICU, Emma Kate was discharged from Lakeside Hospital. As she was leaving, the staff organized a second line parade through the NICU to celebrate the day she was finally able to go home. The celebration was themed “Oh, the Places You’ll Geaux!” 

“We received a special umbrella and onesie made for her,” Bridget said. “It was a beautiful celebration that left both me and my husband in tears.” 

Emma Kate went home weighing about 8 pounds, roughly the weight of a full-term newborn. She still needed oxygen, which she remained on for about four more months. 

Leaving the hospital was joyful, but it was also frightening. Feeding became one of Emma Kate’s biggest challenges. Bridget, who is a speech therapist, had professional experience with feeding, but caring for her own medically fragile child was different. 

“It was hard to separate the professional from the momma,” Bridget said. 

From 1 pound, 6 ounces to a thriving child 

Over time, Emma Kate kept growing. She met milestones, with her family adjusting for the four months she had arrived early. She was social from the beginning, Bridget said, even when she still had oxygen tubing. 

“She has a dimple on her cheek, and when she started smiling, she would smile with her oxygen,” Bridget said. “If there were people in a room, she would look at every single person and smile.” 

To Bridget, that smile said a lot. 

“This little girl, she’s here. She is here, she is thriving, she is happy to be on this earth,” Bridget said. “And she is still that way.” 

Emma Kate continued to prove people wrong. She walked at 15 months, a major milestone for a baby born at 23 weeks. Bridget describes her as sweet, empathetic, stubborn and persistent. 

“She came out fighting when she was in the NICU,” Bridget said. “She made up her mind. She loved to prove us wrong.” 

Today, Emma Kate is doing well in school and living the life her parents once feared might not be possible. And throughout every milestone, Bridget says Jack remains an important part of his sister’s story. 

“For him to stay put that long and hold out until 23 weeks, his mission was to save his sister’s life,” Bridget said. “He did.” 

The DiFranco family honors Jack while celebrating Emma Kate’s life and progress. They have since moved back home to St. Louis, where Emma Kate now has a younger brother, Dominic. But Lakeside Hospital remains part of their family’s story. Looking back, Bridget said Emma Kate’s outcome is directly connected to the care she received at Lakeside Hospital. 

“They didn’t just treat her and move on,” Bridget said. “They went above and beyond.” 

A message of hope for other NICU families 

Bridget also wants other NICU parents to know they are not alone in the fears and uncertainty that can come with having a critically ill newborn. During Emma Kate’s hospitalization, Bridget worried about what her daughter’s future might look like. 

“You’re so nervous when you’re in the NICU about outcomes,” Bridget said. “Will my baby end up with cerebral palsy? Will my baby be able to walk? Will my baby be able to communicate?” 

Today, Bridget wants those parents to know there is reason to hold on to hope. 

“Our daughter is thriving,” she said. “She is doing fabulous in a normal school setting. She’s also involved in gymnastics, soccer and softball, playing on teams with kids her own age. And that is all thanks to the doctors and nurses at Lakeside who helped us get there. We could not have done any of this without them. Lakeside NICU saved our child.” 

Emma Kate's story reflects Lakeside Hospital's longstanding commitment to caring for mothers, babies and families during life's most critical moments. Through LCMC Health's $14 million Women and Newborn Care expansion project, that commitment continues to grow by strengthening maternal and newborn services and enhancing seamless, family-centered care for future generations. Learn more about the expansion here. 

For more information about Lakeside Hospital's NICU and maternal services, visit Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) - Lakeside Hospital.