Hand to Hold's official blog
The NICU at Community Hospital in Missoula, Montana, was in the very beginning stages of building a new, separate NICU building. So, while we were there, there were roughly eight to 20+ babies in two very small rooms. The incubators were pushed up very tightly next to each other. There was no privacy and I had to pump, and try to breastfeed in front of other parents. It was hard to bond with my sweet girl when there was so much commotion going on. [Read more]
A friend of mine once told me: “Worrying is like paying interest on a debt you may not owe.” Which is true! It is a hard concept to put into practice as parents of babies whose lives are in jeopardy, but if we can allow ourselves to let go of the worry and the “what ifs”, even for a few hours, we create an opportunity for ourselves and our partners to focus on the day at hand. We should ask ourselves: What can we do today to be involved in our baby’s care? How can we show our baby we love him/her? What can we celebrate today? [Read more]
I have never met anyone who, while in the process of trying to start a family would say “We’re going to get pregnant, and preeclampsia will set in at about 26 weeks along forcing us to have our child early; it’ll be great!” Nobody plans on having a pre-term baby. Alas it’s a prevalent part [...]
Whether its a hospital support group for parents, an online community or real-life friends, support from others really helped me out while dealing not only with the NICU, but with being home with a small baby right of the NICU as well. Even now, almost three years out of the NICU and some of my best friends are preemie parents that I’ve met on my journey. Even though friends and family are very understanding, caring and mean the best, its nice to talk to someone who has a better idea of what you are going through. [Read more]
Alexia Pearce delivered her little boy at 23-weeks and says now, “If I’d known then what I do now, I’d have wanted him to die in my arms.” Take a moment to read her incredible story of now 3-year old Nathan and his inevitable premature death. Alexia wishes to raise awareness of the important decisions [...]
This story was submitted by Shannon, one of our readers. This is the story of my 27 weeker, my miracle Caleb… I was 26 weeks pregnant and everything had been going well until one morning I woke up and thought that I had wet my pants a little. This was my second pregnancy so I [...]
This story was submitted by Faizah, one of our readers. My preemie daughter was born at 26 weeks (9 Jan 2008) through a breech and normal vaginal delivery. We were scheduled for a c-sect but there were so much hassle and delays with the nurses and doctors. I was already about to give birth, with [...]
This story was submitted by Richelle, one of our readers. Myla’s story all started in June of 2009. My son Drake was finally one and my husband Dan and I started talking about getting pregnant again. I had to take fertility treatments with Drake, so we figured we would have to do the same this [...]
This story was submitted by one of our readers. My name is Jessica and I found out I was pregnant on my 21st birthday and I could not have been more excited. My boyfriend and me were thrilled but two weeks later started the long road ahead of us. About 2 weeks after I found [...]
Recently, one of our readers introduced me to something called Vapotherm Therapy. I am so excited about this new technology and wish it had been around when my preemie was in the NICU. The following is information I found at www.chw.org (Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin website): Vapotherm, quite simply, is a heated and humidified nasal [...]
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.