\n\t\t\t\t\t\tHome for the holiday is extra special this year for an Orange County family after their son spent his first Christmas last year in the hospital during his 11 months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).”Him being in the hospital for so long and then finally coming home, it\u2019s like a little dream come true,” the boy’s mother, Nisa Pennyfeather, said. Nathaniel Wright was all smiles while his parents sat down with WESH 2 for an interview on Christmas afternoon. “All the gifts are great, but honestly, the best gift was just having him here, having him at home,” his father, Myles Wright, said. Nathaniel still needs oxygen tubes to help him breathe.”He’s growing wonderfully,\u201d Pennyfeather said. \u201cEvery doctor that meets him is surprised he’s a preemie because he’s so big. He’s a whopping 19 pounds now, which is so different from when he was born.”Nathaniel weighed only one pound and three ounces when he was born on Nov. 11, 2024. It was almost four months before his mother\u2019s due date. “He had a rough start,” Wright said. “Nothing gets this kid down.”Nathaniel\u2019s parents recalled visiting their son one year ago in the hospital on Christmas.”We went first thing in the morning,\u201d Pennyfeather said. \u201cWe did skin-to-skin with him, and just like holding him and just sitting there. He was sleeping for most of it.”Pennyfeather and her stepdad made tiny foam Christmas sweaters for Nathaniel that now hang as ornaments on their tree.”This is actually almost as big as he was at that moment in time because he was only a month old,” Wright said, holding up the tiny foam sweaters. Pennyfeather and Wright said they are forever grateful for the doctors and nurses who took care of their son during his 11 months in the NICU.”Honestly, thank you so much,\u201d Pennyfeather said. \u201cThey were an absolute blessing for us. They became really like a family for us. We have so many photos of them with him.”Since Nathaniel left Orlando Health\u2019s Winnie Palmer Hospital on Oct. 6, he\u2019s already had breakfast with the characters from Winnie-the-Pooh.”Some kids are really scared of characters,\u201d Pennyfeather said. \u201cHe wasn’t. He was playing with every single one of them, and it was great. We had them sign his diaper bag. He took pictures with everybody. He had a great day.”Nathaniel has visited all four of the Disney theme parks, and he posed for pictures for the first time in Santa Claus\u2019 lap.”Both of us came from really strong family traditions when it comes around Christmas,\u201d Wright said. \u201cSo, having my family now together, carrying on that tradition that was set by our parents, is honestly the biggest blessing that we both could ask for.”Nathaniel\u2019s parents are extending their prayers for families who are in the same situation they experienced last Christmas.”Seeing Nathaniel’s story and just knowing that there is hope and that one day it will end, they will come home,\u201d Wright said, \u201cthey’re going to be one of the happiest parts of your life.”Next Christmas, Nathaniel\u2019s parents said they\u2019re hopeful he\u2019ll be able to get on an airplane to visit his mom\u2019s family in New Jersey.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Home for the holiday is extra special this year for an Orange County family after their son spent his first Christmas last year in the hospital during his 11 months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).<\/p>\n
“Him being in the hospital for so long and then finally coming home, it\u2019s like a little dream come true,” the boy’s mother, Nisa Pennyfeather, said. <\/p>\n
Nathaniel Wright was all smiles while his parents sat down with WESH 2 for an interview on Christmas afternoon. <\/p>\n
“All the gifts are great, but honestly, the best gift was just having him here, having him at home,” his father, Myles Wright, said. <\/p>\n
Nathaniel still needs oxygen tubes to help him breathe.<\/p>\n
“He’s growing wonderfully,\u201d Pennyfeather said. \u201cEvery doctor that meets him is surprised he’s a preemie because he’s so big. He’s a whopping 19 pounds now, which is so different from when he was born.”<\/p>\n
Nathaniel weighed only one pound and three ounces when he was born on Nov. 11, 2024. It was almost four months before his mother\u2019s due date. <\/p>\n
“He had a rough start,” Wright said. “Nothing gets this kid down.”<\/p>\n
Nathaniel\u2019s parents recalled visiting their son one year ago in the hospital on Christmas.<\/p>\n
“We went first thing in the morning,\u201d Pennyfeather said. \u201cWe did skin-to-skin with him, and just like holding him and just sitting there. He was sleeping for most of it.”<\/p>\n
Pennyfeather and her stepdad made tiny foam Christmas sweaters for Nathaniel that now hang as ornaments on their tree.<\/p>\n
“This is actually almost as big as he was at that moment in time because he was only a month old,” Wright said, holding up the tiny foam sweaters. <\/p>\n
Pennyfeather and Wright said they are forever grateful for the doctors and nurses who took care of their son during his 11 months in the NICU.<\/p>\n
“Honestly, thank you so much,\u201d Pennyfeather said. \u201cThey were an absolute blessing for us. They became really like a family for us. We have so many photos of them with him.”<\/p>\n
Since Nathaniel left Orlando Health\u2019s Winnie Palmer Hospital on Oct. 6, he\u2019s already had breakfast with the characters from Winnie-the-Pooh.<\/p>\n
“Some kids are really scared of characters,\u201d Pennyfeather said. \u201cHe wasn’t. He was playing with every single one of them, and it was great. We had them sign his diaper bag. He took pictures with everybody. He had a great day.”<\/p>\n
Nathaniel has visited all four of the Disney theme parks, and he posed for pictures for the first time in Santa Claus\u2019 lap.<\/p>\n
“Both of us came from really strong family traditions when it comes around Christmas,\u201d Wright said. \u201cSo, having my family now together, carrying on that tradition that was set by our parents, is honestly the biggest blessing that we both could ask for.”<\/p>\n
Nathaniel\u2019s parents are extending their prayers for families who are in the same situation they experienced last Christmas.<\/p>\n
“Seeing Nathaniel’s story and just knowing that there is hope and that one day it will end, they will come home,\u201d Wright said, \u201cthey’re going to be one of the happiest parts of your life.”<\/p>\n
Next Christmas, Nathaniel\u2019s parents said they\u2019re hopeful he\u2019ll be able to get on an airplane to visit his mom\u2019s family in New Jersey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home for the holiday is extra special this year for an Orange County family after their son spent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[50984,1191,1089,28,30,29,320,5078,9099,1961,50979,50982,50980,50981,5661,1960,50983,164],"class_list":["post-95979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-character","tag-christmas","tag-family","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-home","tag-hospital","tag-month","tag-mother","tag-myles-wright","tag-nathaniel-wright","tag-nicu","tag-nisa-pennyfeather","tag-parent","tag-son","tag-tiny-foam-christmas-sweater","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}