Sometimes you just don’t know where a “YES” is going to lead you.
In my case, it led down a pretty fantastic road.
Two years ago, the founder of Hand to Hold, the non-profit that manages PreemieBabies101.com, asked me to lead a new effort. This blog. Before the phone call was over I’d already said yes several times because sometimes you just know when it’s the right thing.
Our family was two years post-NICU, in a pretty good place in regards to our preemie’s progress and I finally felt like I had a good handle on my five children and their activities. Okay, it was managed chaos, but chaos I loved, nonetheless.
In the span of two years, we’ve assembled a mighty fine cast of contributors, Dear NICU Nurse was picked up by the Huffington Post (big wow), we’ve grown our Facebook presence and our engagement with other preemie parents continues to inspire me. But, beyond all that. Beyond all the stats and numbers and lovely growth, there has been you. Our fantastic readers who give us wonderful feedback, encourage us with your comments, reach out to us for advice and share your stories. You are the reason we blog. I dare say many of us who have walked the NICU road could’ve done it without support. It’s my hope this small corner of the interwebs has give you many things. Hope. Support. Advice. Camaraderie. And, love.
But just as preemies grow, as they achieve milestones and crush developmental delays, my time has come to step down as Lead Blogger and step back into the role of newborn mom. I’m thrilled to share I’m cooking my sixth beautiful baby with high hopes – HIGH hopes – that this one will be a 40-weeker and not come early to the party. I’ll still be contributing here on a quarterly basis, so you can look forward to reading the Texas twang.
Thank you hardly seems adequate for the beauty I’ve been given these past two years. The beauty of friendship, of understanding and of affirmation. Y’all are good people.
Today, I’m turning over the reins to a wonderfully capable and passionate preemie advocate, Angie Bickford. You can read all about her here – her story, her passion and her enthusiasm will inspire you. She shares my love for all things NICU and preemie and I know that she will do some pretty fantastic things. As she and I spoke via phone a few weeks ago, I could hear it. I could hear that same enthusiastic yes I so passionately shared two years ago.
Give Angie a howdy and tell her thanks for saying yes!