Whitney and Zach Bates' Newborn Son Spent Several Days in the NICU — What Happened?
Zach and Whitney Bates' baby was put on life support shortly after he was born. What happened to Jadon? How is he doing now? Read on to find out.
Jun. 17 2021, Published 2:34 p.m. ET
The first few weeks of June 2021 marked an extremely challenging period for the Bates family.
Bringing up Bates stars Whitney and Zach Bates welcomed a baby boy, Jadon Carl, on Monday, June 7, 2021. He was transferred to the NICU of the East Tennessee Children's Hospital shortly afterward. What happened? Why was Jadon put on life support?
Jadon Bates was put on life support shortly after his birth.
Whitney and Zach welcomed Jadon at 5:15 p.m. CST on June 7, 2021. Jadon's oxygen levels started to drop shortly afterward — which necessitated medical intervention.
"Shortly after birth, [Jadon's] oxygen levels dropped and he was transferred to NICU at the East Tennessee Children's Hospital. As of right now, he is stable and responding to treatment," Whitney wrote on Instagram. "They will continue treatment, running tests, and monitoring until he is strong enough to come home."
But things took a turn for the worse a few days later. As Whitney shared on Instagram, Jadon's condition deteriorated even further. As she explained, his oxygen levels continued to drop, and one night, his right lung collapsed.
"Last night, little J had a rough night. His oxygen levels continued dropping, and his right lung collapsed. They intubated and put him on a ventilator," Whitney wrote. "He has a little chest tube on the side of his chest for the collapse."
As Whitney explained in the same post, Jadon's condition started to improve shortly afterward, which gave the whole family a renewed sense of hope.
"Today, Jadon has been steadily improving throughout the day, and he looks so much more peaceful," Whitney wrote. "Watching him struggle to breathe the past couple days has been so heartbreaking, but now to see the turnaround this morning was a miracle!"
Jadon was discharged from the hospital after nine days.
Jadon started to get even better in the next few days. Soon enough, the doctors were able to remove his chest tube — allowing Whitney and Zach to finally hold him again.
"After six days of not feeling him in our arms, they removed Jadon's chest tube and we were finally able to hold him yesterday!" Whitney wrote. "Since then, they removed his central line, he's came off of all oxygen, and they were even able to remove his feeding tube! He has made huge strides in the last 24 hours!"
After nine days, Jadon was discharged from the hospital.
"Our baby is going home!" Whitney wrote on Instagram. "It felt like the longest nine days of our lives with many tears and long nights spent worrying and praying, but God was so kind and brought us through."
Baby Jadon is Zach and Whitney Bates' fourth kid.
Whitney and Zach welcomed their oldest son, Bradley Gilvin, on Oct. 29, 2014. Bradley was followed by Kaci Lynn, who was born on June 20, 2016, and Khloé Eileen, who came into the world on Nov. 7, 2019.
Catch new episodes of Bringing up Bates every Thursday at 9 p.m. EST on UPtv.
