Sharing the Experience

Having babies in the NICU is a unique experience in which you bond with people from different worlds. They may be rich, poor, educated or not, older, or younger, but we share one common thread. Our babies need more than we can give them. No one seems to understand how hard that is to digest unless you are or have been in that situation. They are the only people who understand what it feels like to have to ask for permission to hold your baby if that's even possible, to watch the nurses change your baby, to not be able to feed your own child or comfort them when they need it. They are the only people who understand what it feels like not to hear your baby cry until they are six weeks old, and they don't tell you "just wait til they're crying all the time, cause you'll be wishing they weren't." We bond through telling our stories of our bed rest, our deliveries, and our babies rollercoaster days in the NICU. We understand the medical gargan like PDA, desats, CPAP, ET tube, helplock, repolgle, etc. We can tell from the look on each others face what kind of day the other is having. With each graduation from the NICU we are all happy for the family that is leaving, but we are saddened a bit to see the parents go. Each graduation inspires us to keep the faith and know that one day our turn will come.

While we bond with the families that have found themselves in the NICU, we also bond with the staff. They are a unique group of individuals who genuinely care about each and every baby. They laugh with us, and they fight back tears. We know that while we cannot take care of our little ones at the level they need, these outstanding people can, and it is comforting to know that our babies are in their amazing and capable hands.

We are thankful for another "average" day. Emma and I got to cuddle for almost two hours today, and she did very well. Abby is continuing to do well also. They are hoping to extubate her tomorrow, but we aren't sure she's quite strong enough to make it the whole day without being reintubated, but we'll keep our fingers crossed that she makes us eat our words.