Love, Maddie
Dear NICU Mama,
When you feel alone, please remember that while you might not be able to see us, we are all rooting for you and your babe(s).
Being a new mama can feel so isolating. Being a NICU mama can be even more isolating. Being a NICU mama during COVID will push you to limits of isolation you never wanted to know you could handle. But you WILL! You CAN!
And in those moments when it feels like you just can’t? Take a deep breath, take a step forward, and know that there is an entire community of mamas just like you rooting for you!
Love,
Maddie
More of Maddie + her son’s NICU journey:
“My pregnancy started as pretty uncomplicated. I had some pain in my lower right ribs that we were treating as general aches and pains of pregnancy. At the beginning of February, when I was about 31 weeks, I started to have significant swelling, had some major visual changes, and my amniotic fluid started leaking very slowly. Mid-February, my amniotic fluid leak became worse, we discovered that I had severe preeclampsia, and the decision was made to induce me. I was 34 weeks. We were told to not expect a cry. We were told that we might not get to see our son for “a while” after birth. We were terrified. Twenty four hours later, our 4lb 5oz baby boy was born, screaming. Our NICU stay was relatively brief and focused mostly on slow weight gain and difficulty feeding, but mentally, it took it’s toll. Having to ask to care for or hold our baby. Hearing a sudden alarm and looking up at the monitors praying it is not our baby, but also feeling guilty because that means wanting it to be someone else's baby. There was no more defeating feeling than being discharged from the hospital on day three without our son, and then having to do it over and over again. I walked out that door with empty arms feeling like I had not been able to do what was best for my son because my body had failed me. But the joy we felt walking out of the hospital finally with our son, made everything worth it, even though we walked out of the hospital and into quarantine.”
