Hand to Hold's official blog
As a father, Joel Brens (IL) wants to dispel the idea that dads can't be scared or emotional beings. His wife gave birth to their son via emergency c-section due to complications from diastolic umbilical artery flow at just under 33 weeks. Their son was born in May 2010 at 3lbs. 6oz. and spent 25 days in the NICU while his lungs developed and he learned to eat. Presently, he is undergoing evaluation for developmental and speech therapy but otherwise doing well. Community and support have been essential to Joel and his wife. You can connect with Joel on his Facebook page, via email or on his blog, Papas of Preemies.
Our son Jayden has accomplished so much in his first three years. How he has grown as an explorer, learner, and social butterfly has been quite exciting. Since his second birthday, Jayden has been receiving therapy through Early Intervention, which has certainly helped him along. Despite all of his accomplishments, he still has a way [...]
As our son Jayden closes in on three, I have learned so much as the parent of a former preemie. We have seen all sorts of ups and downs, laughter and tears, milestones and obstacles, and I wouldn’t trade any of it to do it over. When I reflect on where we started and where [...]
When I take a moment to step back and look at the the big picture, access to information these days can be equal parts blessing and curse. The idea of privacy is slowly becoming obsolete. While there are certainly ways to avoid details of your life being available for public access, we have become a [...]
As we near the holiday season, I can’t help but think about all of the things we are so very grateful for. Our pregnancy was far from perfect. But in hindsight our circumstances could have been far worse, our outcome far more dire. Not to diminish the significance of our 25 days in the NICU, [...]
I think I speak for a lot of parents of NICU/preemie babies when I say that the moment you are thrust into uncharted territory, it’s hard to know where to turn. While we knew that there was a possibility our son was coming early, when the time came I had no clue who to turn [...]
While lots of kids big and small are headed back to school soon, our son is still a year away from starting preschool. We have been so blessed with his progress. We were informed when our son came seven weeks early that we should be aware that there might be delays, whether they be developmental or speech related. I remember telling myself to keep an optimistic view on the matter, while the reality was quite unsettling. How was I going to tell if there were delays? I’m no expert. This is our first child. What am I supposed to look for? [Read more]
I have never met anyone who, while in the process of trying to start a family would say “We’re going to get pregnant, and preeclampsia will set in at about 26 weeks along forcing us to have our child early; it’ll be great!” Nobody plans on having a pre-term baby. Alas it’s a prevalent part [...]
My wife had a very normal pregnancy for the first 30 weeks. When she went in for a routine checkup, her blood pressure had skyrocketed. They immediately admitted her and began giving her medicine to get it under control. Unfortunately, I was at work when this happened and was unable to be there for support. She called me at work crying and there was nothing I could do. I felt so guilty and helpless. I just wanted to be there. Luckily, the doctors were able to get her blood pressure under control shortly before I arrived. She spent four days in the hospital and was released on bedrest. Weekly fetal non-stress tests (NST) and biophysicals were a mainstay for the remainder of the pregnancy. Unfortunately, just under 33 weeks she was readmitted to the hospital because doctors had discovered diastolic umbilical artery flow and planned to induce two days later after rounds of steroid shots to help with lung development. That Monday evening, she had her best NST to date, so everything seemed set in stone. [Read more]
Hand to Hold is a nonprofit 501(c)3 parent support organization and information and resources provided here do not intend to take the place of the relationship between a patient and personal physician.