by Eric Ruthford | Feb 1, 2016 | Family Stories, Fatherhood, Life after the NICU
I sat, nervous and emotional, in a room of about a dozen hospital administrators and said, “It would help if you started by telling parents like us, ‘Your child is welcome in our nursery.'” They all nodded and I felt like their faces showed I had...
by Eric Ruthford | Jan 4, 2016 | Family Stories, Fatherhood
Miri and I dutifully wrote in our CaringBridge Journal almost every day during Gabriel’s five-month NICU stay. We updated relatives and friends on how Gabriel was doing. Also, we described the really cool systems and procedures that go on in the NICU — we...
by Eric Ruthford | Nov 9, 2015 | News
A new set of guidelines has come out for the resuscitation of preemies, and it means a huge deal to families such as ours. It provides more hope that preemies born in the 22nd week can get treatment. Shortly before our son was born at 22 weeks and 6 days of gestation,...
by Eric Ruthford | Aug 10, 2015 | Family Stories, Fatherhood, Life after the NICU
Having a barfy baby in public will quickly make you understand who nearby is a parent themselves. Being parents of a child who eats by tube feeding (which aggravates reflux), we have had this experience often. One memorable moment was two years ago when we stepped out...
by Eric Ruthford | Jul 15, 2015 | Emotional Health, Family Stories, Fatherhood, NICU Life
There comes a point in a long NICU stay when the nurses have said about six times that you’re the “most intensely committed parent” they’ve seen in a while, and you’re beginning to understand that this is not necessarily a compliment. Even though they’re trained to...
