Hand to Hold's official blog
May will always be a special month for me. For most, May brings with it the end of the school year, vacation planning, and other events that mark summer’s arrival. For me and my family, May holds a different meaning. It marks the month we brought our son home from The NICU. As of May [...]
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 you have a traumatic event in your life, you will feel a variety of feelings. It is no different when you have a baby in the NICU. For my wife and I, we felt the entire gamut of feelings. There was fear, anger, sadness, uncertainty, with a little bit of surprise and joy sprinkled [...]
For me, the hardest thing about being a parent to a special needs child is watching Caleb, our son who was born with VACTERL, go through what he has gone through: a NICU stay, four surgeries, numerous hospitalizations and ER visits, countless specialist appointments, lab draws, radiology tests, daily medications and treatments, therapy, etc. All [...]
Having a baby in the NICU will probably be the most emotional period of a parent’s life. During this time mothers and fathers feel sadness, guilt, anxiety, anger, etc. I know when my son was in the NICU I felt all of those emotions and more. However, being a father and a man I felt [...]
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, [...]
If you have a baby in the NICU one of the daily rituals that have been introduced into your life is your daily trip (or trips) to the NICU to visit your little one. For me, it was very difficult to leave my little boy in the NICU, but it was also just as hard [...]
Matthew Chambers and his wife Victoria welcomed their son James into the world on March 19, 2010. The next few months were filled not only with multiple surgeries and medical interventions – but also with moments of unspeakable joy and intense love. Matthew talks about his son and how what they went through together has [...]
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.