Defying the odds: Harris' fight for survival as a 22-week preemie

Little Harris Pitarro made his dramatic entrance into the world, kicking and screaming, at just 22 weeks following a challenging pregnancy for Lauren Pitarro and her husband, Brent. The Pitarro family began a long and uncertain journey with baby Harris in the NICU.  

From the start, Lauren experienced concerning pregnancy conditions like placenta previa, which occurs when the placenta covers part or all of the cervix, and a subchorionic hematoma, which occurs when blood forms between a baby's amniotic sac and the uterine wall. Due to these complications, she was no stranger to the visiting Labor and Delivery Unit at their local hospital in St. Tammany Parish. “At one point, I thought I was miscarrying, but he (Harris) was perfectly fine,” said Lauren. “They couldn’t see anything wrong.”   

When Lauren was just 21 weeks pregnant, she started having contractions. At first, she thought they were just Braxton Hicks contractions, consistent but not lasting longer than 20-30 seconds at a time.  However, a few days passed, and the contractions intensified. The Pitarros made the decision to go to the hospital, where her doctor determined she was moving towards labor. Lauren recalled, “It was the most terrifying moment of my life. The doctor told us I had to make it to at least 22 weeks.”  

Their fear stemmed from the realization that 24 weeks is considered a critical threshold for viability, and with her baby ready to come at just 22 weeks, they were warned that he had a very low chance of survival. “I’m too early to be early,” thought Lauren, as Maternal Fetal Medicine doctors gave her Motrin which helped slow her labor. Five days after being admitted, Lauren developed a serious infection, forcing an emergency delivery to protect both her and her baby boy. 

The very same day, baby Harris was born via Emergency C-section at 22-weeks with just a 5 percent chance of survival. “They told us that lifelong, severe disabilities were significant. The night that he was born, we had many conversations about that with the neonatal team. We prepared for the worst,” said Lauren.  

Harris was born at only 1 pound and was 11 inches long. The care team in St. Tammany was ready to take on any issues and intubated him right away. However, Harris came out with fewer problems than anticipated. He was stable with an Apgar score of 8, the score of a normal full-term baby. Because there was a concern that baby Harris might have contracted the infection his mother had, the medical team promptly initiated treatment with antibiotics and steroid shots to support the function of his immature lungs. 

It is said that babies can go through a ‘honeymoon phase’ when they are first born, meaning that they are relatively stable for about the first 12 hours of their life as they adapt to their new surroundings.  After that phase ends, doctors can get a clearer idea of what challenges they truly face. Harris defied the odds when his honeymoon phase never ended. “After one week, Harris was still doing well, and in the honeymoon phase,” Lauren recalled. “Doctors said ‘are you sure about your due date?’ because they just couldn’t believe he was doing so well.” Harris was indeed doing well on paper – he had no brain bleed, echos came back normal, and his lungs were clouded but they were improving.  

In June, two months after his birth, Harris’ honeymoon phase started to end slowly. Harris’ oxygen would drop spontaneously and sporadically, but doctors couldn’t figure out why. The Pitarros made the decision with their care team to transport Harris via helicopter from their local hospital in St. Tammany Parish, to a NICU in New Orleans, where he stayed for three weeks as they stabilized his pulmonary hypertension with medications. Once he was doing well again, they sent him back to their local St. Tammany hospital where the family was excited to hopefully take him home from the NICU soon. Then, the Pitarros faced yet another devastating setback.  

“He developed an infection. It felt like our world was crashing down because we started to let ourselves feel hope and let go of fear,” said Lauren. “We had started ordering stuff for the nursery, and not being able to bring him home after he had been doing so well was just devastating.” Lauren and her husband watched with disappointment and fear as their son was intubated again. When nurses were not able to get a PICC line placed on Harris to provide him with life-saving medications and nutrients, they made another difficult, but necessary decision to transport him again while he was strong enough, this time to Children’s Hospital New Orleans.   

“We felt like Children’s was where he needed to be,” Lauren said. “They couldn’t get a PICC line on him and we knew he needed to go somewhere where they could do that, and somewhere that would have all the specialists needed to save his life in one place.”  

When Harris was airlifted to Children’s Hospital New Orleans, he was brought directly to the hospital’s Level IV NICU. Children’s Hospital pediatric neonatologists and nurses got straight to work trying to identify the cause of the infection and develop a plan for treatment. Harris also had swelling in his testicles that required special attention from a pediatric urologist. He was immediately placed in antibiotics, and his family prayed for the medicine to take effect. Their prayers were answered. Harris began to show significant improvement; the swelling went down, and he was responding well to the treatment. Overjoyed, the family watched their son grow stronger, and some of the machinery was removed from his bedside. Harris reached a point where he was able to maintain his own temperature and was finally extubated.  

From then on, Harris progressed slowly with his family doing their best to be by his side each day.   “Our hope was to have him home by his due date, but when that day passed it was really hard,” recalled Lauren. “It felt like I was missing time with him because we just couldn’t be there with him all the time.” The Pitarros also have a daughter, Maggie, who was just two years old at the time, who also needed their attention. Lauren recalled the difficulty of splitting her time between her kids in two different cities. “It was emotionally so hard to choose between our two children every day. I know he knows when I’m not there with him in the hospital, but I still had a two-year-old at home who needed me,” said Lauren.  

Despite Harris’ remarkable progress, he still faced challenges with feeding and required supplemental oxygen for breathing. Lauren and her husband recalled the moment when doctors discussed the possibility of Harris going home with a gastrostomy or G-tube and oxygen. They placed their trust in Dr. Barkemeyer, neonatoligist and medical director of the NICU at Children’s Hospital New Orleans, who took the time to explain what that transition would entail. Once they felt reassured that this was the best path for their son, they made the decision to schedule the surgery for the G-tube placement. 

Harris finally returned home from the hospital on September 26—one month and four days after his due date. He had already overcome so much, and his journey was just beginning. Although it was incredible to have Harris home for the first time, Lauren recalls there being a learning curve as they adjusted to life with a newborn who relied on oxygen and a G-tube. “We were prepared medically, but we weren’t considering what the day-to-day would look like,” explained Lauren. “He was attached to the machine and I could barely fully make it into the kitchen with him and the machine, while also taking care of our two-year-old daughter.”  

She also remembers the fear that they might still lose him never left.  “We still felt like we were going to lose him. In our minds, we thought if we just get our baby home, everything will be ok, but of course we were just trying to cope. Once we got him home, the fear was still there, and it was debilitating.”  

The Pitarro family’s resilience was evident despite the difficult transition, and by January Harris was off oxygen, and his G-tube was removed in May. Now, he feeds orally and loves to eat. From an outsider’s perspective, you would never know the journey he’s been on. Lauren greatly emphasized the sentiment, “If you didn’t know his story, you'd have no clue what he’s been through. Although he’s still small, he crawls and is making strides in therapy for occupational, speech, and physical development.  We were very lucky to have truly each doctor that we had. He was given exactly what he was needed at each point that he needed it.”   

After months of uncertainty, the Pitarros can hardly believe their baby boy, born at 22-weeks gestation, is now one year old and thriving. Brent and Lauren knew they wanted to share their heartfelt story for two reasons: As they were on this journey, they searched for any story of hope to help alleviate their fear. “We want to be that story for other parents who might think they aren’t equipped to deal with something like this,” said Lauren. “Any story of hope we could find brought us so much strength, and we just want other people to know that there is hope.” Their advice for any parent facing a similar situation is straightforward: Show up. “If you can, try to be there for your baby. Every day, one of us was showing up for him, Lauren says. “Be there- your babies are aware of it.” 

Secondly, the Pitarros are incredibly grateful to the doctors, nurses, therapists, and specialists that provided life-saving care for their son, expressing that not all hospitals would take that chance. “Many hospitals won’t intervene before 23 or 24 weeks,” explained Lauren, “If we had been anywhere else, they may not have given him a chance. We want those hospitals to see Harris now and know his life was worth saving at 22-weeks.” 

Harris has been a fighter from the very beginning, full of fearlessness and moving at 100 miles a minute, according to his doting parents. The Pitarros are deeply grateful to each hospital, doctor, nurse, and therapist who recognized him for who he truly is, and for seeing beyond his diagnosis to the amazing miracle child he has become. 

To learn more about the life-saving services of our Neonatal Unit visit https://www.chnola.org/services/critical-care/neonatal-intensive-care/