Growing Strong with Elaina Hedtke

Growing Strong with Elaina Hedtke Follow our journey with our micro-premie, Elaina.

We share updates, celebrate milestones, and cherish and love your support ❤️

Ways to Support Elaina ⬇️

https://gofund.me/7047d14da

06/08/2026

Elaina has surgery again in the morning. Another MLB to check out her airway. It’ll be her third one and she handles it pretty well. We also have scheduled appointments with GI, neurology, plastics, nutrition, and complex care. It’s gonna be a busy next couple of days.

06/03/2026

She’s SO CLOSE 😭 won’t be long now and we’re going to have a Rollie Pollie 💕

LOOK. AT. HER. 😭My severe IUGR, 1 pound, 27-week baby is:* 89th percentile for weight* basically average height* SATURAT...
05/28/2026

LOOK. AT. HER. 😭

My severe IUGR, 1 pound, 27-week baby is:

* 89th percentile for weight
* basically average height
* SATURATING 99%
* and growing so well she’s practically out here proving statistics wrong daily

Do yall understand how incredible that is?!

There was a time when doctors were talking about:

* survival,
* growth restriction,
* developmental concerns,
* lung disease,
* whether she’d tolerate feeds,
* whether she’d gain weight…

And now?
Miss girl is built like she has NEVER missed a meal in her LIFE 😂🤍

The fact that she’s nearly 22 pounds after starting life at ONE POUND is honestly mind blowing. That is not small progress. That is a complete transformation.

And the height chart gets me too because she’s not just gaining weight from medical support, she’s TRULY growing.

Also:

“Percentiles based on gestational age”

That line matters.
Because they’re accounting for her prematurity and she’s STILL doing this well.

I have to stop and really let myself feel proud for a second. Because babies like Elaina do not get here by accident. She got here because:

* she fought,
* medicine helped,
* and we showed up every single day through fear, exhaustion, trauma, alarms, setbacks, hospitals, therapies, suctioning, sleepless nights, and panic.

This chart is medical data, yes.

But it’s also proof of love. 💕

Elaina spent TWO WHOLE HOURS off the ventilator today 🎉 it was spent cuddling and playing. For so long I dreamt of this ...
05/27/2026

Elaina spent TWO WHOLE HOURS off the ventilator today 🎉 it was spent cuddling and playing.

For so long I dreamt of this moment… loving them side by side. 💕

05/26/2026

Elaina had her first follow up with her pulmonologist and cardiologist at Arkansas Children’s today! Everything went really well. Her pulmonologist increased her sprinting time to 1 hour twice a day and her cardiologist raved about her 4th beautiful echo in a row and wrote the order to start weaning off her heart medication ❤️

Elaina got to celebrate her big sister graduating kindergarten today! 💕🎉 it was her first outing besides doctors appoint...
05/20/2026

Elaina got to celebrate her big sister graduating kindergarten today! 💕🎉 it was her first outing besides doctors appointments and it went really well ☺️

Tubes, toys, and the strongest little soul I know 💕✨
05/18/2026

Tubes, toys, and the strongest little soul I know 💕✨

A little something sweet for your Saturday morning🍦💕
05/16/2026

A little something sweet for your Saturday morning🍦💕

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Texarkana
Texarkana, TX
75501

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