When Magan Darby and Damion Celestine welcomed their son Zion at just 25 weeks, he weighed only 1 pound, 5 ounces, small enough to fit in the palm of their hands.
“That part was scary,” Magan recalls. “I didn’t think it would have been that severe.”
Over the next 343 days, Zion’s journey carried him through three hospitals — Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s & Children’s Hospital in Lafayette, Manning Family Children’s in New Orleans and finally Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital in Baton Rouge — before he could go home.
Beginning the Journey
Magan’s pregnancy had already been marked by illness before things took a dramatic turn.
“I was sick one day, just sinuses. I was always sick through this pregnancy,” she remembers. “I couldn’t hold anything down, so I finally went to the hospital.”
She was admitted to Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s & Children’s Hospital and worried about needing to stay through her third trimester. After a few days, Magan noticed a cramp in her arm, and the labor & delivery team let her know it was time to deliver via C-section.
At just 25 and a half weeks gestation, Zion came into the world far too soon.
Hospital Transfers and Specialized Care
Zion spent his first six months in Acadiana’s only Level III Surgical NICU in the hospital where he was born. From there, he was transferred to Manning Family Children’s NICU in New Orleans for specialized procedures including a tracheostomy.
The long drive to New Orleans from the family’s home in Broussard added to the difficulty of the experience.
“We transferred to Baton Rouge because sometimes it was a three- to four-hour drive, and we have five other kids,” Magan says. “Zion finished out his stay at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital before he came home.”
A Long NICU Stay
Zion’s time in the NICU stretched across nearly a full year.
“It was a lot of touch-and-go times,” Magan says. “I remember getting calls early in the morning like, ‘We’re bagging him.’ And I’d rush to the hospital, praying for the best. But by the time I got there, he always pulled through.”
Zion fought pneumonia multiple times.
“I can’t count how many times he had pneumonia,” Magan says. “Every time, it set him back. But to look at him now, you just don’t know.”
The Support of the NICU Team
Through every hospital, Magan remembers specific caregivers who stood by their side.
“At Women’s & Children’s, there was Ian. Even when he wasn’t Zion’s nurse for the day, he watched over him,” Magan says. Ian Conlee, RN, has been part of Our Lady of Lourdes ministry since 2021.
At Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, respiratory therapy educator Holly LeBlanc, BS, RRT, AE-C, became especially important to Magan and her family. Holly not only cared for Zion but also trained Magan for life at home.
“She showed me how to change his trach once a week and manage his ventilator and oxygen,” Magan says. “It’s a baby times 10, but now it’s second nature.”
Magan says Holly and the entire Our Lady of the Lake team “really took the time to get to know Zion. The team here was so attentive. They embrace the babies like family.”
Finally Going Home
After 343 days, Zion was discharged, just in time to celebrate his first birthday.
“I remember the day he got out. I posted that he finally gets to come home,” Magan says. “When he went home, he was 23 pounds. He looks so much bigger now.”
Walking out of the hospital with him felt like a miracle.
“Every day I wake up and see him, I can’t believe he’s here, finally home,” she says.
Life Today
Zion is thriving.
“I can’t even believe it’s the same baby from the hospital sometimes,” Magan says. “He’s just so comfortable, and you can see the happiness in him. Babies really do grow and get better at home when they’re around family.”
For other parents with babies in the NICU, Magan wants to share encouragement.
“It was a long, long journey and sometimes it was hard,” she admits. “You don’t know if they’re going to pull through. But to see him now, from 1 pound to today, I can’t thank God enough. Just waking up and seeing him every day, I feel this relief. I can’t believe he’s here.”
Learn more about the partnership between Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Health and Manning Family Children’s to improve the health of a generation.
We hope your family never needs a NICU, but it’s good to know what’s available — just in case. Across our health system we offer access to the highest quality family-centered care:
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Greater Baton Rouge and Northshore: Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital’s Newton & Betsy Thomas Family Center for Newborn & Infant Intensive Care
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Northeast Louisiana: the region’s only Level III NICU at St. Francis Medical Center
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Acadiana: Our Lady of Lourdes Women’s & Children’s Hospital’s Level III Surgical NICU
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Greater Jackson: St. Dominic Hospital’s NICU
