This day is filled with so much hope and sadness at the same time.
We had our baby boy at 34 weeks, 6 week’s early. He spent 3.5 weeks in the NICU and although he was a HUGE preemie, he still had issues breathing, developed jaundice, and had feeding difficulties for a long time. We are so grateful to see how beautifully he has grown and he is doing so well.
Being in a NICU where I had access to him “easily” considering, I was able to sit by his side from 7am to 11 30pm every day and try get his feeds going, hold him once his breathing once okay on his own, change his nappies, and bond with him. The relentless milk pumping and routine of nicu is exhausting, and it’s really heartbreaking to see your baby (and all the babies around them) struggle through their first weeks of life.
But I am so so grateful for even that difficult experience, and I am so aware of other mom’s who weren’t able to hold their babies for a long time, who weren’t able to take their babies home again, and who are raising little humans with physical and mental health difficulties as a result of their prematurity.
Every preemie is a fighter, and we honour them today, no matter what their journey.