Blog
The Gift of Gratitude
I just assumed that when I was ready to have a baby, I would. I had no reason to believe that getting pregnant would pose any difficulty for me. I was relatively young, healthy and had no untreated medical issues. But I was wrong. Like many other women, pregnancy for...
Epigastric Pain in Preeclampsia
by Jenna Maxfield High blood pressure, protein in the urine, swelling and headaches and some of the most commonly-reported symptoms of preeclampsia. But there's one lesser-known symptom that can often get overlooked: epigastric pain. It’s possible that preeclampsia...
Kindness Matters
How do you give back to the people who have helped saved your child’s life, go out of their way to be kind, and help lift you up when you fall? In honor of National Random Acts of Kindness Day on February 17, here are some random and creative ways we gave back to...
10 Life Lessons I Learned After Experiencing Life’s Greatest Joy and Most Devastating Challenge
by Charles George Over the last six years of my life, I have experienced my greatest joy and my most devastating challenge. The biggest joy was welcoming my son, Thomas, into the world upon his birth. The biggest challenge that I have ever faced in life is my son...
Team Hand to Hold Featured Runner: Ashley Presnell
"Knowing that I can help in any way, big or small, has made me a better person." — Ashley Presnell, NICU parent, volunteer peer mentor and Team Hand to Hold member This week's featured runner, Ashley Presnell, didn't know about Hand to Hold while she was in the...
Helping is Healing: Accepting Help in the NICU
Accepting help in the NICU is tough. My son, Brooks, was born at 29 weeks after a month-long hospital stay on bedrest because of PPROM I developed at 25 weeks. There was so much help I needed from the time I was hospitalized. I was almost completely helpless, it...
Hand to Hold Forges New Partnership with Seton Medical Center Austin
On Tuesday, January 22, 2019, Hand to Hold Ambassadors Christine Tester and Cristal Carrasco handed out dozens of NICU parent bags and NICU Milestone Bead necklaces to parents in the NICU at Seton Medical Center Austin. This Tuesday marked a special day - the...
Team Hand to Hold Featured Runner: Cesar Romero
The secret to living is giving. – Tony Robbins That's the driving motto behind Team Hand to Hold member Cesar Romero's passion for giving back. Cesar joined Team Hand to Hold in early January and threw himself into fundRACING for NICU and bereaved families,...
Run a Virtual 5K with Team Hand to Hold
We get it - getting out early on a cold February morning isn't for everyone. That's why Hand to Hold is introducing our first ever Team Hand to Hold Virtual 5K, a fun, interactive and flexible opportunity for even more people to get involved and run on behalf of...
Pregnancy After a Preemie
People often ask me how it feels to be pregnant after a preemie, and honestly, sometimes it’s surreal. You see three and a half years ago, having another baby was far from our minds. I had given birth to our son Jaxson at 22 weeks, 6 days, and we endured the NICU...
Storms End
“First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes…” Well, my guess is that if you’re reading this blog, your journey to that baby in a carriage hasn’t been the childhood rhyme you pictured. When we suddenly realized we were pregnant, years before we intended to be...