Love, Jaime
“Dear NICU Mama, Practicing gratitude in a season of grief can look like holding onto one healthy baby in the NICU, as the other is being transferred to a different hospital.
It can look like being so happy that one baby is eating their entire bottle, while the other has yet to even taste milk on their tongue.
Like celebrating small milestones with one baby while the other just got back from surgery.
Like feeding your baby for the first time a week after birth as you touch the other for the first time through a hole in a crib.
Like changing your baby’s clothes as you change the other’s PICC line.
Like holding your baby to your chest and listening to their breathing as you watch the other breathe on a screen.
Like signing off on how to care for your NICU baby at home as you sign consent for the other to have a blood transfusion.
Like hooking your baby into their car seat for the first time ever as you hook their monitor leads back up.
Like taking your baby home as you visit the other daily, hoping for a breakthrough.
Whether you are celebrating the holidays with children in the NICU, at home, or splitting time between both, be gentle with yourself. Sweet NICU mama, joy and grief coincide.”
Love,
Jaime
More of Jaime + Her Twins’ NICU Journeys:
“I went in for a c-section at 34 weeks on September 30th, 2022 and had two perfect babies, both weighing 3 pounds 13 ounces. They both had IUGR and were sent to the NICU to grow and learn to feed. 24 hours later our baby girl had still not passed her first stool and was transferred to Children’s Hospital where she had surgery on her third day of life. She was diagnosed with NEC effecting 60% of her intestines and tested positive for enterovirus. She was put on bowel rest and no feedings by mouth. Meanwhile, our baby boy was growing perfectly and was sent home after just 14 days in the NICU. Our baby girl defied all odds and finally started healing after 4 weeks of bowel rest. After 43 days in the NICU, she came home and is doing perfect.
This has been the hardest season of our lives, but I am so thankful that God has healed our baby girl and we can move onto having our family complete.”
