“Dear NICU Mama, This NICU Awareness Month, I hope you know this: you did not fail, you survived.
So often in the NICU, we find ourselves thinking, “If I just would have…” or “Maybe if I had…” It can be easy to search for answers, to look for something to blame, and sometimes, without even realizing it, to place that blame on ourselves.
But NICU mama, no matter how you found yourself in this sisterhood, your body did what was necessary to help you and your baby survive. And that is something to be proud of.
The weight of the NICU can feel incredibly heavy. You are surrounded by constant reminders that this journey isn’t what you once pictured—beeping monitors, tangled wires, alarms, and a plastic incubator where you can’t simply hold your baby the way you always imagined.
Your baby may need more medical support than you ever expected, and you’re learning things you never thought you’d need to know. In those moments when everything feels overwhelming, it’s easy to question yourself. To wonder if you’re doing enough. To wonder if you’re strong enough.
But when those doubts creep in, look at your baby. Look at how strong they are. That strength? It came from you, mama.
Your baby has already learned so much from you: Strength, resilience, patience, courage, and most importantly, love.
The future may feel uncertain right now. There may be days when you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. But one thing is certain: the love you and your baby share.
And mama, that love is powerful enough to carry you through the days you never imagined you’d have to face.”
Love,
Jessica
More of Our Journey:
“Dominic is our second born, after his older brother, Mikey. Both pregnancies were extremely challenging, as I was sick throughout the entire pregnancy. The only difference was that Dominic decided to make his entrance at just 27 weeks.
On a Sunday night, I felt something was “off” and decided to get checked out. We were in absolute shock when we found out I was 9.5 cm dilated, and from that moment forward, everything started to move so quickly. Within the next hour, Dominic was born via C-section at just 2 lbs 1 oz.
Throughout the entire C-section, I cried, unsure of what the future would hold. I don’t think I’ll ever forget lying there, thinking and wanting to ask, “Is my baby alive?” but being too terrified in case the answer was something I couldn’t handle. Little signs of reassurance came when I heard the doctors say, “2 pounds, that’s good.”
Following the C-section, it took four hours before my husband was able to go down to the NICU so that he could see our tiny warrior. Once I was allowed to, I shuffled myself into a wheelchair to head down there as well. It was not the way I had expected to meet my second little guy. I had dreamed of snuggling him and having his older brother come to the hospital to meet him. Instead, our whole world, from that moment on, went into a different kind of survival mode.
Dominic spent 74 days in the NICU. Seventy-four days that his brother couldn’t meet him, and that we were torn between our two boys, trying to balance this new world that was the NICU. Dominic needed a significant amount of respiratory support, but we were extremely lucky to have such a wonderful team of nurses and doctors who are now our forever extended family. They guided us through such an unknown and scary time in our lives and helped us through every step of the way.
Today, Dominic is turning one year old, and he is the sweetest, smiliest boy. We are incredibly proud of the warrior he truly is and of everything he has overcome in his first year of life.”