Browsing all posts in "NICU Survival".
Music Therapy for your Preemie
Our NICU experience came with a lot of “Boy, I wish I had known that earlier…” moments. Music therapy falls into that category! We were told about our hospital’s music therapy program a few months after our daughter was born. The therapy team was a group of musicians who traveled around the hospital, playing music [...]
Friends in the NICU
One of the best things we did for ourselves during our stay at the NICU was make friends. I recall the first time my husband said hello and started chatting with the woman next to us. At first I was thinking he shouldn’t bother her, but then she chatted back and told us how she [...]
Making Your Marriage Work in the NICU
Any marriage can and will change with the birth of a new baby, especially when it’s the first child being born to new parents. When a baby’s arrival doesn’t goes as planned, though—when a child is born with health issues or simply comes too soon—that’s when preserving a marriage takes a lot more work! My [...]
Support Groups
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently returned to visit the NICU where my preemie lived for over three months. During my visit I got in contact again with the Parent to Parent organization they had there to provide support for all of the parents in the unit. It was brought to my [...]
Pumping: Low Milk Supply
In February, Afton wrote a terrific post about her pumping experience called “Nessie the Milk Cow.” Here’s an excerpt: One day I left the parent’s lounge balancing milk bottles carefully on my way to the freezer when I saw another mother leaving a pumping area with only one little bottle in her hand – and [...]
Leaving Without Your Preemie
Almost every preemie parent has to experience going home without their baby. Some parents have to leave their baby in the care of the NICU for days, some for weeks, and some for months. No matter how long your baby is in the NICU, you have to face the sorrow, the fear, the anxiety, and [...]
Feeling Sorry
I spent most of the day, every day, with my preemie while she was in the NICU. I arrived at the NICU around 8:00 am and I left around 5:00 or 6:00 pm. I always felt sorry for all of the other babies, because I rarely saw other parents visiting. I hoped that their parents [...]
Nutrition Cart – Love it!
In the NICU where my baby stayed, a nutritionist would bring a cart of goodies around the unit a couple of times every day to offer to the parents. I’m pretty sure the nutrition cart saved my life! I was pumping a ton and living off of the cafeteria and vending machines, and I was [...]
