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.

How did you find out about Hand to Hold?

I can’t remember who specifically shared it with me, but it was one of the moms in our mom’s group that met once a week at the hospital while our kiddos were in the NICU.

What made you want to volunteer? What have you gotten out of it?

Hoping to be there for other families was our first reason. There were times we felt alone or isolated. We didn’t know anyone who had gone through delivering a premature baby. Two different opportunities really showed us the value in having someone who has gone through what you’re being faced with to support you. The first was through a weekly mom’s group for the moms with babies in the NICU. The relationships I developed through those get-togethers provided me with comfort, laughter, shared tears, strength and understanding. Second, we received an email from a family at our church who had heard of what we were going through and they reached out to us, listened, prayed and encouraged us. These things helped us to see first hand how impactful that type of support can be. To have an opportunity to be there for someone no matter how great or small, just to let them know that you are there for them, is our hope. We also want to do our best to make positive things come forth from a tough time in our life. [Read more...]