re: NICU Parents...how long was your stay?

You and HC will be great parents.

12 days. Rough time.

Congrats! I'm sure y'all are thrilled to have him home.

My thoughts and prayers to all of you who have had kids in nicu. We have two friends whose child didn’t survive due to the complications of premature birth. I am thankful for my four kids and reading this thread reminds me how blessed we are to have healthy children. The doctors and nurses in nicu are amazing and are some of the most dedicated people you will find. God bless you and your families.

Small thread hijack.....My husband and I wanted to do something for the NICU staff to thank them for all they did for our son. There are so many employees, though. Not really sure of what to do. For those that graduated, do you have any suggestions?

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For those that graduated, do you have any suggestions?

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When people bring stuff to the NICUs my wife has worked at, normally they will just bring snacks and drop it off with the main few nurses who took care of them. Sometimes people bought her specifically gift cards, and other times cupcakes and then let her share with the floor. Either way, you can’t go wrong and they will greatly appreciate it.

I was thinking of cupcakes. Just seems so small for saving our child. But also can't do something personal for 20+ people.

My niece was a premie. She was born 3 months premature, weighing only 1 pound and 11 ozs. She could literally fit in the palm of your hand, she was the same size as one of thoae blue rubber booger sucking bulbs for babies.

Her NICU stay was was nearly 6 months. The first month or two in an incubator. First nearly 2.5 years of her life, so well after she came home, she wore a portable heart monitor/ defibrillator. Until well after she turned one it was still somewhat regular occurrence, and never any less terrifying, for her heart to literally stop in the middle of the her sleep and her defibrillator shock her back to life.

Now,I'm only her uncle and I'm l my 11 yrs older than her,and this was nearly 16 yrs ago now, so the I don't know the details of the parenting side, and it was forever ago too.

But after all the heartache and scary times, the story ends very happily. My niece is now a beautiful girl who will turn 16 in a few months (no pics), not only is she very healthy, but actually one of the tallest girls in her grade which allowed her to start for her JV HS team in Indiana (as her uncle I begrudgingly admit that in spite of her lack of skills, technique, any modicom of athleticism or coordination, or frankly any discernable passion for the game or drive to get better)

But anyway, if you didn't know her story you would have no clue about her issues as a baby. The only leftover side effect is that because she was born so premature and didn't immediately get oxygen to her brain, her brain had to rewire itself and now she thinks and learns differently than other people. She's not stupid at all,shes bright and can do anything anybody else can, she just sometimes takes a bit longer than most and usually arrives at the conclusion in a way most wouldnt consider. She's in all normal classes in 10th grade, so her teachers still can get frustrated with her different way of doing things. This can be incredibly frustrating for her as well, and I've seen her literally in tears over math homework asking me if she's stupid because some little bitch in her class told her she was Funny thing is, my niece ended up with a full letter grade higher on the year in that class than the insecure bitch girl



So anyway, you probably didn't read all that, but no matter how scary things are in the NICU stage, things can always end up happy and normal for involved.

Good luck with your situation and congrats on the child

Thanks! Will definitely do.

Good idea!