Love, Amy

““Dear NICU Mama, Life after NICU may feel isolating, but know that you are not alone. You never have to carry your feelings of fear or loneliness or hurt all by yourself. There is a sisterhood of mamas just like you. Some of them might be in another country, some in another city, some of them still in the NICU today.

When your journey feels hard to carry, you might not feel strong enough to bear it alone each day. And that's okay because there are so many of us out there to help you hold this heavy weight.When the rest of the world wants us to forget about our brave warrior's NICU journey or tell us our baby is fine now so we should move on, know that it may take you a bit more time. The world may never understand what our babies have endured, but we will always remember.
Our first days or weeks with our babies will always be different. For us, it meant watching their tiny bodies struggle on the inside of the incubator, separated from us by plastic. It meant listening to the monotonous beeping of machines. It meant instead of the sweet smell of our newborn's soft head, we smelt the sterile smell of sanitizer. It meant not being able to hold our babies right away because their little bodies were too frail or too unwell. The world we entered with our little baby on the day they were born was a terrifying one, and sometimes, life after NICU will never be the same.

Despite each of our stories being uniquely ours, many of us share the same feelings and trauma surrounding our journeys into motherhood. But while we share all of this heaviness, we also share the same joy in the smallest of milestones and we allow ourselves to feel hope. So, when you feel alone, when it feels like you don't fit into the circle of other moms, or that nobody understands what you're going through or have been through, know that you have a NICU sisterhood who gets it. We have walked these hospital halls before you, and some of us are walking them with you right now. So, find the courage, dear mama, to reach out and say hello. Because you just might find someone who feels as alone as you do.

In this darkness, you might even find friendship.”

Love,
Amy

More of Amy + Robyn’s NICU Journey:

“After a high risk pregnancy due to severe early onset IUGR, I had baby Robyn at 27 weeks + 4 days in Woking, just outside of London, in September 2021. She weighed just over 1 lb. and a 3-month stay in NICU. We brought her home 4 days after her due date (at 3 months actual age) just in time for Christmas on December 22, 2021. Robyn is now almost 11 lb. at 8 months old and healthy!”