“I remember the humanity.”

Pregnancy came as a surprise to Kier—the first of many she would encounter in her parenthood journey.

“I never planned on having kids,” she recalls. “It wasn’t something I was really attached to.”

But things seemed to fall into place. She had a great pregnancy. She wasn’t sick, and there were no concerns or interventions. Until there were.

After a routine appointment with her midwife at 37 weeks, Kier was sent for a consult with a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist at St. Michael’s Hospital who arranged an ultrasound to double-check the baby’s measurements.

A few hours later, she had an emergency C-section.

Her son, Chase, was born weighing 3 lbs 6 oz and was taken to the St. Michael’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She was discharged two days later, but Chase wasn’t.

“I was never expecting to go home without my baby,” she says. “That’s when I realized this wasn’t a normal experience.”

A week after Chase was born, Kier and her husband were called in for a family meeting. Somehow, Kier knew going into that meeting that her life was about to change forever.

Chase was diagnosed with trisomy 21, also known as Down Syndrome. The new parents were stunned. Kier remembers the range of emotions, including one particularly painful thought:

“It was really difficult knowing that my son was going to need more help than I expected when I never really felt like I was meant to be this amazing, maternal mom.”

As Kier navigated her own recovery, she was driving to the hospital every day, learning to pump, talking to doctors, and trying to understand what was happening to her baby. She found comfort in her conversations with Dr. Douglas Campbell, a Paediatric Staff Physician who took the lead in Chase’s care.

“He was so caring and so compassionate, and he was very proactive in Chase’s care,” she recalls. “That gave me a lot of reassurance.”

Chase’s stay at the NICU lasted almost three months. Usually a social person, Kier kept to herself at first. She watched the other babies come and go.

During his extended stay, the nurses appointed Chase “Mayor of the NICU” and moved him to a crib “with a view of the city.” As Kier began to feel more like herself, she found new ways to keep busy. The elaborate holiday photoshoots were particularly memorable—watching doctors navigate Christmas lights as they checked Chase’s vitals.

Kier felt incredibly supported by everyone involved in her family’s care: the nurses, lactation consultants, therapists, doctors, volunteers, and the administrative staff.

“People will say ‘no one cares as much as you do,” she says. “But this might be the exception that proves the rule.”

Chase is now 18 months old and receives care through the St. Mike’s paediatrics clinic. Recognizing that NICU staff rarely get to see the babies they cared for post-discharge, Kier makes a point of bringing Chase back to the Hospital to visit.

After numerous life-changing surprises, Kier is immensely grateful. For the joy of becoming a mom—something she never expected. And for the experience she had at St. Mike’s.

“When I think of the NICU, I remember the medical stuff, but I mostly remember the humanity,” she says. “The NICU is where we became a family.”