Premature baby ready to head home after over 400 days in NICU

A Kentucky family is preparing to finally bring their little boy, who has spent over 400 days in the NICU, home for the very first time.

Key Takeaways:

• Colsen Knox was born in March 2025, at 24 weeks gestation.

• He has spent over 400 days in the NICU, but is expected to be discharged very soon.

• His mom credited the NICU team at the University of Kentucky Hospital for providing the care that has helped Colsen.

The Details:

Colsen Knox was born on March 5, 2025, when his mom, Samantha Jones, was just 24 weeks pregnant. At his birth, Colsen weighed 1 lb., 8 oz. Though Jones was initially told to expect Colsen's NICU stay to last at least three months, that stay has stretched to more than a year.

"You kind of just get thrown into the NICU. It's something that we never thought about during my pregnancy with Colsen until we were in it," Jones told Lex 18.

She credited the NICU team at the University of Kentucky Hospital for providing the care that has gotten Colsen to where he is today.

"The NICU team, they are amazing," she said. "They are the reason that we have gotten through this year the way that we have, especially his primary nurses, Emerson and Anna — like, they have become my best friends, but they're like Colsen's aunts at this point."

She said that instead of just looking forward to going home, the family has also made it a goal to bring Colsen to the zoo.

“It's like as soon as we start planning, something happens. So we say we're going to the zoo," she explained. "We just started saying go to the zoo, and so now we're excited to bring him home, but also [to] actually go to the zoo."

According to a GoFundMe, the family expects to reach that milestone very soon.

“Colsen has been doing amazing[;] he’s been on a home vent and requiring little to no oxygen for the past couple of weeks,” the fundraiser reads. “He’s already on the settings they want him on when he goes home, and we couldn’t be more proud of how far he’s come. He has just a few sedation weans left, and then Colsy K gets his trip to the zoo.”

That milestone will be extra special for the family because Jones gave birth to a second baby boy recently. The fundraiser notes, "...[a]fter everything they’ve been through, they are finally on the brink of having both of their boys under one roof, something that once felt so far away."

Jones noted the importance of staying positive throughout the NICU stay.

"Take all the pictures. Celebrate every single milestone, every gram, you know, that they gain. They open their eyes for the first time," she said.

The Bottom Line:

Babies born as young as 21 weeks have survived outside the womb, yet, according to the Guttmacher Institute, 16 states continue to allow abortion through 24 weeks of pregnancy — the same age Colsen was at birth — and nine states plus D.C. allow abortion until birth.