Blog
Caring for Your Mental Health in the NICU
Photo by Emily Ingalls Photography by Lexi Losch, MA, LPC, NCC Having a baby in the NICU can be a stressful time for the entire family. You may be experiencing many ups and downs as you navigate this new life. You may feel helpless because you can’t help your baby...
Meet the Professional: What Does a Child Life Specialist Do?
Babies who have spent time in the NICU have higher rates of rehospitalization than other infants. Even if your child was only discharged from the NICU a few days or weeks before needing to return to the hospital, you will most likely find yourself in the Pediatric...
Nourishing Your Premature Baby in the NICU
Advances in perinatal medicine have improved the survival of premature infants born as early as the 23rd week of pregnancy. Preemies weighing less than one pound often survive and even thrive in NICUs across this country. The NICU course can be a long and painful...
What to Expect on Discharge Day
Remember the saying, "Expect the unexpected?" It applies here too. On NICU discharge day. Just like there are processes and procedures while your baby is in the NICU, there are processes and procedures for leaving the NICU. The NICU nurses will not send you home...
Baby Shower Blues
The day before I delivered my preemie at 29 weeks, via emergency c-section, I was at work, feeling exhausted and uncomfortably swollen. I also had nagging headache that would only get progressively worse throughout the next 24 hours. However, despite my increasing...
Supporter Spotlight
Hand to Hold is fortunate to have so many wonderful supporters to help spread our mission of providing support to NICU families. Today we're highlighting three special people who have generously supported us in the last few months through their incredible acts of...
112 Miles for 112 Days in the NICU
Lord help me, I hate to run! Seriously, I really want to be a runner! I want one of those cool 26.2 car window decals. I want to experience that runner's high people keep telling me about. I set a goal to run 112 miles in one month in honor of my children and the...
Tiny Addicts: How America’s Opioid Crisis Affects Babies
Every 25 minutes the world's tiniest and most vulnerable souls, just hours old, are victims of a vastly growing opioid epidemic. The second the cord is cut, separating a mother from child, the tough road begins. Born addicts against their will, they may suffer what...
10 Tips for Enduring Isolation During RSV & Flu Season
Our 24-weeker first came from the NICU mid-flu and RSV season in 2008. We struggled to explain to people why we had to be so cautious and remain in isolation. We’ve spent 10 winters indoors with pneumonia, RSV, and hiding from epic outbreaks. Here's what I learned:...
Understanding Neonatal Care & NICU Levels
You've entered the world of preemie parenthood, and suddenly it's a whole new ballgame in which you didn't plan to play. There are rules, lights, sounds, and lots of talks that might seem foreign to you. When parenting a preemie, learning all about the neonatal...
Donating Blood to Help Save Lives
Donating blood is something that we hear about often, whether it be on TV, ads, or friends and family. I think donating blood gets overlooked a lot. Until I was in high school, I always seemed to think, “Why should I donate blood? No one I know needs any.” Then I...