Hand to Hold's official blog
This question echoed in my mind. In the days after my daughter’s premature birth, I often wondered if I could call myself a mother. It sounds a little silly now, but back then it was a very real question. I was unable to do motherly things like breast feed and snuggle my newborn or even [...]
I pushed the elevator button for the 7th floor. The doors opened, we stepped off and started the familiar walk past the waiting area of balloons and flowers. We didn’t need to stop at the receptionist desk, they knew us. We stopped giving our parent code two months ago. We did not have to show our hospital bracelets. The [...]
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 [...]
A Pound of Hope is the story of 24-weeker twins, Aidan and Ethan, as told by Michele Munro Kemper (Nana) and Jennifer Kemper Sinconis (Mama). Michele and Jennifer tell the story as it was noted and journaled during the twins’ NICU stay and after. Michele began the journal with only paper towels and a pen [...]
For the most part, I have been blessed with good health. The few times I contracted a cold or infection, I went to the doctor and got a prescription and a day later I would start feeling better. In my limited experience, doctors could fix things. And until my pregnancy complications, I believed they could [...]
In the book, Before the World Intruded, the reader is taken through a medical trauma author Michele Rosenthal survived when she was thirteen years old. She describes feeling like a zebra, an anomaly, an isolated mystery case that no one seemed to understand or be able to cure. She details the twenty-four years she then [...]
If you are familiar with the preemie world, you have most likely heard the NICU experience referred to as a roller coaster. With all the baby steps forward and the major and minor setbacks along the way, parents often feel as if they are on a hair- raising carnival ride; and much like riding on [...]
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 [...]
When Caitlyn passed away at twelve-days-old our world shattered. Lost, alone, angry, broken and a feeling of being hollow was all I felt. My husband and I were sharing the grieving so it was unbearable to share our sadness with each other, it was so raw and too deep. I did go to therapy, once. [...]
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, [...]
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.