Hand to Hold's official blog
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 [...]
When my first child rolled over for the first time, her daddy and I cheered. We applauded her when she sat and later when she crawled. We laughed when she said her first word, “duck”, and laughed more when she began calling everything “duck”. Like all new parents, we thought everything she did was exceptional. [...]
Having a baby in the NICU is an emotional time for any parent. As a NICU parent, you are thrown into a completely new world. You are overwhelmed with medical information, insurance claims, emotional stress, and more, all while trying to somehow maintain your life outside of the hospital – other children, work, bills, etc. I have been asked by [...]
You can spot them from afar. The NICU moms are the ones with bags under their eyes gazing enviously upon the moms being wheeled out of the hospital holding their big, healthy babies in their laps balloons floating all around them congratulating them on the birth of their baby. The NICU moms are the ones with no congratulatory balloons in hand. Instead, they tote their little coolers back and forth to the NICU daily supplying breast milk to their sick babies. [Read more]
Surrender. Defeat. Failure. These are the words that circulated in my head when I reluctantly agreed to a gastrostomy for my son.My son and his twin sister were born 16 weeks early. Due to a complication of a PDA surgery at only two weeks old, my son was left with a paralyzed vocal cord. After [...]
“Oh, twins! They’re so cute!” exclaims the lady in the checkout line at the grocery store. In a nanosecond, I have the following conversation with myself: “No, they’re not twins, they’re triplets you just can’t see the third one. Does this lady care that one of my girls died? Am I just going to depress [...]
I was six months pregnant with Jack when suddenly his heartbeat could no longer be heard. One month shy of the fourth anniversary of losing my sweet boy, I sent out a request for donations in his honor to be made to Hand to Hold. A week before the dreaded anniversary, a package arrived from my [...]
I had a plan. I wanted two children. My first daughter was a winter baby, and after a gloomy postpartum period, I decided my second should come in the spring, so I could be out and about during maternity leave. When Lucy was two and a half I got pregnant, with a due date in late May, according to the plan. Pregnancy symptoms came fast and furious, which I had heard was normal for a second pregnancy. By my first prenatal appointment at seven weeks, I had violent morning sickness and my pants were tight. Within the first few seconds of the ultrasound, the reason became clear: two heartbeats. The doctor smiled and I hyperventilated. My husband, perched on a chair across the dark room, tried to understand what was happening. [Read more]
This story was kindly submitted by Sara, one of our readers. I had twin preemies due to pPROM. My water broke with twin A (Kaleb) at 18w (4/18/10). I spent 86 days on bedrest until I had an emergency c-section due to placenta abruption. Kaleb & Kameron Crane were born on 7/11/2010 at 29 weeks. [...]
This story was thoughtfully submitted by Kristin, one of our readers. My son is my miracle. He is a surviving twin. He was born at 23 weeks, 5 days (we think he may have been younger gestationally now). He weighed 14 oz. at birth (410 grams). We spent 170 days in 3 NICU’s. In all, [...]
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.