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 [...]
Mother’s Day during or after a baby’s stay in the neonatal intensive care unit is a milestone celebrated with joy and tears. So many emotions accompany the decision to have a child, to become a mother and to weather the storm that accompanies a baby’s hospital stay or loss. When words are not adequate to [...]
From the moment I first laid eyes on my tiny one pounder baby girl, I wrestled with many emotions that caused me to question whether or not I deserved to be a mom. Of course, I did everything ‘right’. I took prenatals, ate right, and followed the doctor’s instructions when she put me on hospital [...]
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 [...]
With my history of premature labor, scarred tissue, a classical c-section… the list could go on… we almost knew that our last child, Evie, would be another early arrival. And she was. She was born two days before New Year’s Eve last year. She came five weeks early, after trying everything under the sun (including [...]
There are so many misconceptions when it comes to Cerebral Palsy. Most often it seems people assume that when you say your child has CP that means that they aren’t intelligent or that they are completely wheelchair bound. While this is the case for many living with CP, there are also many who struggle in [...]
“So, it’s possible your son has Meckel-Gruber Syndrome. But, I’m not 100% positive.” Those were the words our son’s geneticist uttered six months ago. She also informed us that while it’s possible he could have it, we couldn’t be sure unless we did further genetic testing (not covered by insurance, of course) that would run [...]
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 [...]
At one time, I falsely believed that the love I had for my son was not enough. He was born early, contracted an often fatal intestinal disease (necrotizing enterocolitis), spent 44 days in the neonatal intensive care unit and, after further examination, was found to have a myriad of medical anomalies. And I couldn’t fix [...]
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 [...]
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.