Hand to Hold's official blog
Truth be told, I have always been very organized. A useful skill after my son Caleb was born with VACTERL association as it helped us to better navigate his seemingly endless specialist visits, therapy, hospitalizations, surgeries, medications, and insurance. Read on for my best organization tips. [Read more]
I had all of 10 minutes’ notice I was about to become a preemie mom, which was barely enough time to hysterically call my parents and send a few text messages before I found myself off on a wild stretcher ride and into a scene that looked like it was from a weekly TV medical drama that left my head spinning and body reeling. Clearly, this was not how it was supposed to happen. This was not the plan! This was not how I had imagined my right of passage into motherhood that I had waited 30 years for and fought for so hard for. This is not how it was supposed to be. [Read more]
I remember having the girls and not even thinking about money. I remember how overwhelmed I felt when we started getting bills for thousands and thousands of dollars. I immediately started freaking out and had no clue what we were going to do in order to pay all these bills. My mom works for an [...]
If you’re like me, the first few days of our NICU stay were a complete blur. There was the emergency c-section which happened way too fast, the hours of shaking while the epidural wore off, the relief in hearing my preemie cry, the hours of horrendous pain the first night and the pumping. Oh, the [...]
For many preemies, plagiocephaly (and in some cases, brachycephaly) are yet another thing in which they struggle. Our son became a high risk after having three bowel surgeries, as a direct result of NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis). He spent much of his early months on his back and was developmentally delayed in things like rolling and crawling. Those [...]
I found it! I searched and searched for the original call that I referred to in my Preemies & Social Security article a couple weeks ago, because a number of you requested it, and thanks to the help of the Dave Ramsey radio team I was able to get an audio of the complete call. [...]
A few weeks ago I was listening to Dave Ramsey’s talk radio show and a woman called in and said she had recently had a preemie baby. She had started receiving social security benefits during her baby’s NICU stay and then continued to receive them for a few months after her baby came home because [...]
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.