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This episode is all about bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) — not from a medical textbook, but from two moms who’ve been living it for over two years. Tori and I share how we’ve come to understand our sons’ diagnoses of severe BPD: what it is, how it shows up, what treatments our kids have needed, and what we’ve learned from being in the trenches of the ICU for almost 2 years.

We explain things in the way they were explained to us, in layman’s terms. From symptoms and types of mechanical ventilation, to why we both hate blood gases and what we’d advocate for or against, this episode is for parents trying to wrap their heads around this complex diagnosis.

Just because your child receives a BPD diagnosis doesn’t mean they’ll end up trached and vented — there is a wide range of severity, and every child’s path looks different. What we do want to share is hope: our boys both had severe BPD, and we’re so grateful they’ve made it through hospitalization. The good news? These kids can grow out of this disease with time, lung development, and the right support.

We also talk about the importance of individualized care, how to advocate for your child, when to consider transferring hospitals for higher-level care, and what we learned from being at a specialized BPD unit. This isn’t the medical deep-dive — we hope to bring you that in the future — but it is a real and practical conversation from two moms who’ve walked this path.