Miracle Baby Nyla a Typical Toddler After Lifesaving Care in Silver Cross NICU
What a difference a year makes!
Neonatologist Dr. Mario Sanchez enjoys a visit with Nyla Brooke Haywood, a year after she left Silver Cross Hospital’s NICU.
Members of the NICU team enjoy a visit with Nyla and mom NaKeya Moffett.
Nyla and her mom visit NICU room 3722, where Nyla spent the first six months of her life following her birth at 22 weeks in November 2023.
Nyla checks out the state-of-the-art bassinette where she slept and was cared for by Silver Cross Hospital’s NICU team.
On Mother’s Day 2024, NaKeya Moffett was busily preparing her home and herself for the arrival of her miracle daughter, Nyla Brooke Haywood, the very next day.
Born at just 22.3 weeks the previous November, micro-preemie Nyla spent the first six months of her life being cared for in Silver Cross Hospital’s Amy, Matthew and Jay Vana Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) .
“We were busy last Mother’s Day,” NaKeya remembers. “We celebrated a little, but we spent most of our time getting ready to bring Nyla home.”
Fast forward a year, and Nyla and her parents spent Mother’s Day 2025 like most families: going to church, visiting grandma and enjoying a delicious meal.
NaKeya and Nyla stopped by the Silver Cross NICU May 12, almost a year to the day she enjoyed a triumphant sendoff from the hospital in 2024. NICU staff, including neonatologist Dr. Mario Sanchez , who was present at Nyla’s delivery, gathered excitedly around her like one big happy family!
The beautiful, healthy toddler is like any 14-month-old (age-adjusted due to her very early arrival 18 weeks ahead of schedule in 2023). Nyla babbles, enjoys a good game of peekaboo, is sporting brand-new teeth and walks while holding her proud mom’s hand. At home, she pulls pots and pans out of the cupboard and plays with bubbles. She also loves to eat chicken nuggets.
“She’s pretty much just like any other toddler,” NaKeya explained.
“Her adjusted age is 14 months, and she is progressing along that path. She weighed 17 pounds and measured 28 inches at her last doctor’s visit. She’s babbling, ‘Mama, Dada,’ and all that. She’s taken a few steps, and I think she’ll be walking by the end of the month. She likes to be around people; it takes her a little while to warm up, but then, she’s all smiles.”
All in all, “She is pretty much perfect,” Moffett said with pride.
Nyla the Fighter
Nyla has come a long way since she was born on Nov. 17, 2023, at only 22.3 weeks to NaKeya and her husband, Cory Haywood, of Joliet. The youngest baby ever delivered at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, she weighed a little over 1 pound and was just under a foot long.
NaKeya, who works at Silver Oaks Behavioral Hospital on the New Lenox campus, said everything was fine with the pregnancy until about 20 weeks. But after a checkup, swelling she had was not going away.
So, her mother, Barbara Moffett, a nurse at Silver Cross, took her blood pressure. When the bottom number was 116, she suggested NaKeya see her OB. When he couldn’t get her blood pressure down, he sent her to Silver Cross.
Once there, the labor and delivery team, the maternal fetal medicine team, the neonatology team, the nurses and respiratory therapists created a plan for delivery.
Following her birth, Nyla was admitted into the hospital’s NICU, and it wasn’t long before the little one began beating every odd that came her way.
Silver Cross doctors and staff became family as they watched Nyla 24/7, especially focusing on her lungs, about the size of a grape after she was born.
Stronger Every Day
When it was time for her to leave Silver Cross May 13, 2024, she went home with portable oxygen, while also breaking the hearts of the doctors and staff who had grown to love her. Her triumphant send-off with 200 plus staff members crowding the hospital lobby dominated local, Chicago and international media.
Over 1.6 billion people read or tuned into Baby Nyla’s story through various media around the globe.
“Nyla’s is a story of hope. No one goes into the delivery room expecting to end up in the NICU,” NaKeya added. “But her story is proof that miracles happen, and everything can be okay.”
“You can’t even put into words how happy it makes us just to watch her and see how she’s progressing and developing,” said Dr. Sanchez, who enjoyed a few rounds of peekaboo during Nyla’s visit. Holding onto mom NaKeya’s hand, Nyla took several steps towards him and other staff gathered around.
Baby Nyla continues to work with physical, speech and occupational therapists, a dietitian, as well as her regular doctors on staff at Silver Cross.
“When we go back to Silver Cross for doctor visits, I’ll run into a few of the staff who worked with us,” NaKeya said. “It’s so nice to see them, and they love seeing how Nyla is doing.”
And the tiny baby who once fit in the palm of her parents’ hands, has come a long way – from a feeding tube at birth to her favorite foods today: pizza, fries, cheese and yogurt.
“She’s acting like a normal toddler,” NaKeya added. “She’s a good sleeper. She’s doing great.”
“We really felt the energy when she came in today,” adds Peggy Farrell, DNP, RN, Director of the NICU and Lactation Services. “We’ve become like a family, and we love to see her. It’s such a blessing.”
For more information, visit silvercross.org/nicu
