By Erika Goyer, Hand to Hold Family Support Navigator
Sometimes you have the chance to connect with another mom in a way that is so personal and so intense that you feel an instant bond. I think that’s what happened when Kelli met Victoria on our visit to El Paso, Texas last year. If I’m remembering correctly she said to me, “Victoria needs to be matched with another mom. And I want that mom to be me.” I knew at that point that I wouldn’t even try to get between them.
We met Victoria in the NICU at Las Palmas Medical Center. Although she was from Las Cruces, New Mexico, her daughter, Amiah, had been transferred to a NICU in El Paso soon after her birth on January 15, 2011 at 22 weeks gestation. Once she recovered from her emergency c-section Victoria began the exhausting routine of driving back and forth from Las Cruces to El Paso to be with her daughter.
I remember seeing Amiah that day in the NICU. She was in the quietest corner of the unit where the lights were dimmed and where there wasn’t much sound other than the hum of the oscillator. We whispered to each other in her quiet room and wondered at her tiny, beautiful body. I am always humbled and amazed by these extraordinary babies. I don’t know if she is the smallest infant I’ve gazed upon in wonder and amazement but she may be. When Amiah arrived she was 12 ounces and 10-1/2 inches long, no larger than a soda bottle. [Read more...]
Jennifer Fagan had her daughter Natalie Grace at 26 weeks due to placental abruption. She and her husband Mike have two other children. In addition to serving as a Helping Hand Peer Mentor, Jenn has also been helping facilitate a NICU support group at North Austin Medical Center. She shares below what volunteering to help other parents means to her.
Although they call Washington State home, Loran and her husband were living in Japan when their baby was born. In May 2010, Terra came into the world at 24 weeks and just 286 grams (0.6 pounds). She was in the hospital in Osaka until November. In January, Terra’s mom, Loran, contacted Hand to Hold about how to get connected with other families. She was paired with Colleen, a fellow parent of a preemie, who has served as her long-distance Helping Hand peer mentor.
Have you ever had a friend whose circumstances are so overwhelming that you are exhausted just from imagining yourself in their shoes for a moment? Melissa Overy is one of those friends. And yet it’s difficult to say whether her determination or smile is her most admirable quality as she blazes a trail for her young boys with the weight of the world on her shoulders. “Indomitable” is the perfect adjective to describe her as one of her preemies is actually named “Dom.” At the playground you can see him and his older preemie brother, Aidan, as two happy, rambunctious boys jumping, climbing and running. But at home you will encounter his bleach baths, tubes and feeding pumps. We all agree that raising young children is challenging, but raising medically fragile children as a single mom must be completely overwhelming. But not for Melissa. She takes each day in stride and is not afraid to glance off at the the horizon often too. Each week consists of full-time employment, part-time education, single motherhood, specialists appointments, fevers that require emergency room visits, G-tube maintenance, and somehow even time as a Helping Hand volunteer at Hand to Hold. Below you’ll hear about this incredible mom in her own words.
October is National Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month. 78 infants are lost each day in the U.S. — 2,474 babies in Texas each year.We were so excited to give our two-year old daughter Camryn a sibling so imagine our shock and joy when we found out we were having twins!
Will was born at barely 25 weeks. He was battered and bruised by the traumatic birth; he was just under 2 pounds; he was unable to breathe on his own and the doctors were not hopeful. Signing a DNR and baptizing your baby in the NICU within 24 hours of delivery is beyond horrifying. For everyone involved. But days of survival grew into weeks, and small hopeful signs joined the constant barrage of setbacks and the NICU is your only reality as you become an expert in one little baby’s every physical, medical measurement of health. And you sing. Everyday. To that baby.
