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Michelle Hensel (TX) is the mother to three children. Her oldest daughter was born full-term and she unexpectedly delivered her twins at just 23 weeks 5 days, with each weighing 1 lb. 2 oz. and 1 lb. 8 oz. They spent 133 days in the NICU. Although they still face challenges due to their prematurity, they are now active, healthy toddlers. Michelle chronicles her family's journey with former micro-preemie twins and their big sister on her personal blog.
Three-year-old’s have a way of accepting life as it is, not as how it should be. They only know that things are the way they are. They don’t have the capacity to think, “It wasn’t supposed to be like this” or “I wish it were different.” They simply accept. My daughter was three years old [...]
When my first child rolled over for the first time, her daddy and I cheered. We applauded her when she sat and later when she crawled. We laughed when she said her first word, “duck”, and laughed more when she began calling everything “duck”. Like all new parents, we thought everything she did was exceptional. [...]
Women who don’t know my story will undoubtedly complain about some part of being pregnant. Isn’t that what pregnant women are supposed to do? They might go on to say something like, “I’m counting down the days” or worse, “I wish this baby would be born already.” I’m left standing there facing my own “elephant in the room” taking up all the space between my thoughts and what will actually make it to my lips. [Read more]
Having a baby in the NICU is an emotional time for any parent. As a NICU parent, you are thrown into a completely new world. You are overwhelmed with medical information, insurance claims, emotional stress, and more, all while trying to somehow maintain your life outside of the hospital – other children, work, bills, etc. I have been asked by [...]
You can spot them from afar. The NICU moms are the ones with bags under their eyes gazing enviously upon the moms being wheeled out of the hospital holding their big, healthy babies in their laps balloons floating all around them congratulating them on the birth of their baby. The NICU moms are the ones with no congratulatory balloons in hand. Instead, they tote their little coolers back and forth to the NICU daily supplying breast milk to their sick babies. [Read more]
Surrender. Defeat. Failure. These are the words that circulated in my head when I reluctantly agreed to a gastrostomy for my son.My son and his twin sister were born 16 weeks early. Due to a complication of a PDA surgery at only two weeks old, my son was left with a paralyzed vocal cord. After [...]
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.