Dakota Dozier My Cause My Cleats Family

Immediately upon delivery, Haley and Dakota heard a precious sound: Evelyn cried.

“It was just crazy because our son was – I am not a small person,” Dakota quipped. “Our son was 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and he was ‘normal’ sized, and now he’s 3 years old, 55 pounds, three-and-a-half feet tall. He’s just huge. So we were kind of expecting the same thing, but that wasn’t the case this time. Just a teeny little peanut.

“I remember the first time holding her,” Dakota continued. “Of course having held a newborn before, I felt confident holding her. But even so, how small she was, it was just crazy to me.”

Miraculously, Evelyn never required a ventilator or any significant respiratory support beyond regular-flow oxygen early on, which meant she received plenty of skin-to-skin contact with her parents.

Evelyn did require a feeding tube for some time and remained in the NICU for 50 days.

Requirements to go home included reaching five pounds – the minimum for most car seats – and being able to consume a full day’s feeding without a feeding tube.

“The feeding tube was in, and we tried to take it out – couldn’t do it. Put it back in, take it out, couldn’t do it,” Dakota explained. “So it was kind of two steps forward, one step back kind of thing. Just getting her volume up, and slowly and steadily she did.”

One week after Evelyn was born, Dakota reported to Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center for Vikings Training Camp.

Though difficult to be 1,200 miles from his family, Dakota stayed connected via regular phone and FaceTime calls and watched Evelyn grow and develop daily.

Evelyn has experienced a couple of minor health hurdles, including being hospitalized by the rhinovirus for a week, but overall is thriving.