Hand to Hold's official blog
Kasey Mathews (NH) is a mother of two, her son, Tucker born on his due date at an even 8 pounds, and her daughter, Andie born at 25 weeks, weighing 1 pound 11 ounces. Kasey is a writer and author of the memoir, "Preemie: Lessons in Love, Life and Motherhood," in which she openly and honestly writes about her fears and uncertainties as a preemie mom. Kasey considers herself a student in the lessons of everyday life, and regularly observes and finds unexpected meaning in seemingly ordinary events. Her life-lesson stories and much more can be found on her website, www.kaseymathews.com. Follow her on Twitter.
If you’re like me, the mention of the tiny, three letter word, flu, can cause your palms to sweat, your stomach to sink and in the worst of moments, your knees to buckle. The latter happened to me a few years back when the entire country was in pure panic over the Swine Flu. It [...]
"Preemie" Author Kasey Mathews shares his difficult struggle of sending her preemie back into surgery. The anxiety, fear and worry landed HER in the hospital and the gift of a friend shifted her perspective. This month we’re giving away that gift, the book "Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster." [Read more]
I used to love the holidays. The sparkle of white lights, the smell of evergreen, the sound of Bing Crosby Christmas carols. And then I spent a Christmas in our home, while our baby lay in an incubator in a hospital an hour away. That year, the arrival of Christmas highlighted just how “not normal” [...]
This is still the hardest part of the story to tell. The story of my girl born way-too-soon, weighing way-too-little. Because this is the point in the story where we let our guard down. Where we actually let ourselves believe that our girl’s prematurity was behind her; that we were in the clear.
She arrived by emergency c-section at 25 weeks. I saw her for the first time several hours later blanketed in a tangle of tubes and wires inside a plastic box. There were no tender moments. There was no mind speak between us. Just the voice in my head screaming, Run! There was no baby on my chest. Just an industrial powered machine delivered to my bedside with the instructions, Put a suction cup over each breast and let the machine pull out the milk. Or not. The machine could not do the work of my baby. My mind and body refused to cooperate, to let go, to let down. [Read more]
When you first found out you were pregnant, what did you imagine your life would be like? Did you have visions of a round swollen belly draped in the latest maternity clothes? Did you imagine yourself in the last months of your pregnancy putting the final touches on the nursery you’d so lovingly created for your [...]
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.