Love, Shelly

“Dear NICU Mama, you may not be the same woman you were before your NICU journey, but you are whole. You are not broken.

You might feel like your body let you and your babies down, but your body fought to protect you and your children. May you be proud of the beautiful work your body has done.

You might feel angry that you don’t get to be normal—like all of the sweet normalcy you imagined this season to be has been stolen from you. And maybe you’re afraid to hope and let your guard down. But this state of constant hyper-vigilance and anxiety is not your new normal. Days of peaceful, mundane normalcy are coming, sweet mama.

You might feel like so many dreams of what this time would look like for you and your babies have been broken, but broken dreams don’t equal broken realities. May you learn to embrace the tension of joy and sadness, faith and fear, strength and weakness—may you allow yourself all of it.

May you find rest in the fact that you are still here. You are taking one breath after another. You are taking each step, every day, and facing every new challenge with courage and resilience.

You can do this, mama. You are not alone.”

Love,
Shelly

More of Shelly + Her Twins’ NICU Journeys:

“After being hospitalized for preterm labor at 28 weeks, I was put on bed rest and was in and out of the hospital for the next six weeks. When my water broke at 34 weeks, I delivered my twin boys via emergency C-section. Despite my sweet little Micah’s delivery injury (a snapped femur), some scary apnea episodes with my sweet Liam, and infection from retained placenta for me, we were all at home safe together after 15 days.”