My NICU experience was like the domino effect…..once the bad news started rolling, it just kept coming. I could barely process one set of bad news before receiving a call with even worse news. I held my breath for the entire time that my son in the NICU. This picture was taken during my “No bad news strike.” I told his NICU team that I wanted just a week to enjoy my son without hearing any bad news. I wanted to try my best to push aside everything that was weighting on me and just enjoy my son. I gave him his first tub bath during that week. I held him as along and as tightly as I could. I must have told him that I loved him a million times. I sang to him and read to him. I have never prayed so hard in my life as I did that week.
“It’s a NICU World!” was birth out of my pain. I want other NICU parents to know that they are not alone. If I could make it to the other side, so can you. When Kolin was in the NICU, I would search the preemie Facebook groups for hours…looking for some glimmer of hope. I finally found in the smile of a little three-year-old girl. Her mother shared her journey, and her clinical picture was pretty similar to Kolin’s. I took a screenshot of her post and I read it every time that I started to lose hope, when the weight of this journey was starting to be too much to bear. Yes, the little girl still has medical conditions that she and her family struggled with, but she was happy. Her smile touched every corner of my heart. She made me believe that no matter what, Kolin would be okay. I want current NICU families to read this blog and feel what that other mother gave to me, HOPE.
