“The doctors found out about my daughter Esther’s condition during my 3rd trimester because she wasn’t peeing enough in my womb and I therefore wasn’t making enough amniotic fluid. It was so scary not knowing what was going to happen to me or her! She entered the world 5 weeks before her due date 12 hours after my baby shower! Labor was pretty smooth. After 5 hours of labor, the nurses and midwife put her on my chest and then whisked her off to the NICU. A few hours later I saw her in her room hooked up to all these machines and IV lines! The doctor told me that she had a rare malformation cal ..read more

“Ellie arrived via emergency c-section a little over three weeks prior to her due date. We already knew of her Down Syndrome diagnosis prior to birth and that little extra chromosome makes her that more special. The first few hours after Ellie arrived were great but then she started having oxygen issues so she was admitted to the NICU. Ellie had feeding issues as well so she ended up receiving a feeding tube (NG tube). We spent a month in the NICU working with a therapist on feeding and Ellie was able to come home without oxygen and taking bottles on her own and we owe that to her NICU team. H ..read more

"Born 31 weeks weighing 2 lbs 9 oz, Amara was definitely a surprise to me and her father! We did not find out I was pregnant until I was 17 weeks, and went in for my first doctors visit and found out the gender of our baby girl right then and there! After a few visits I was diagnosed with mild preeclampsia and had to get on high blood pressure medication all at the young age of just 21! I was going in for my NST testing and ultrasounds when I found out I did have an anterior placenta, which was why I didn’t feel Amara moving around or kicking as much. My last NST test baby girl didn’t move aro ..read more

“21 weeks into my wife's pregnancy she had to have a cervical cerclage and be put on full bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy. At 26 weeks her water broke at 11PM one random night and we rushed to the hospital. We thought that this was going to be it, the baby is going to come and worrying that it's so early. Little did we know that just because your water breaks it doesn't mean the baby has to be born as long as there's no contractions and there's enough fluid around the baby. She was in the hospital for about 3 weeks and just after 29 weeks she began having contractions on a random F ..read more

“Our NICU journey began on 10/30/22 with the birth of our twin boys at 25 weeks 3 days due to incompetent cervix. Cash weighed just 1lb15oz, and his brother Cade smaller yet at 1lb5oz. After that day, almost the next 3 months of our lives revolved around the NICU. Birthdays, Christmas, ringing in the New Year, all happened at the NICU, over an hour from our home. Many trips made over a snowy mountain pass just to be there on time to swab tiny, perfect lips with whatever milk I’d been able to pump. And to be the one to delicately change the tiniest little diapers ever. Being there for rounds to ..read more

“Our Sophia Ruth was born at 24 weeks and weighed 1lb 9oz. My water broke and had a breech delivery 48 hours later. The first two weeks were touch and go. My husband and I were able to hold her for the first time after 6 days and have held her everyday since. After two weeks, we were told the pharmacists may go on strike, so they transferred her to another hospital for 10 days, 60 miles away until the negotiations were resolved. The first two months of the NICU were numbing. We spent the holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Years in the NICU. I cried every day for a month. Sophia was a ..read more

“Forrest and Tucker are identical (Monochorionic diamniotic) twins who were diagnosed with selective intrauterine growth restriction (sIUGR). They were not expected to make it past 20 weeks gestation and were monitored closely throughout the pregnancy knowing that every day longer inside my body meant a better chance at survival. We prayed every day for one more day, all while waiting for the day that we’d be told something was wrong and the boys would have to be delivered. With several scares throughout, by the grace of God we made it to 33 weeks and 4 days. On that day, Tucker was not respon ..read more

“My Son Julian Hartmann was born 24 weeks and 4 days. He weighed only 1 pound and he was 11 Inches long. He was a fighter from the very beginning. Once Julian started to kick inside my tummy I could already tell how strong he was and when he came into this world only weighing 1lb, I truly met a little fighter! Julian went through multiple surgeries all in one year. When he first got his Tracheostomy I thought he would have the trach and vent forever. It was truly a sad time but he fought his way off that vent and a year later he came home with his trach. He had his trach for about another year ..read more

“Vasu Arul Miller came into the world way too early on April 30, 2023, at just 30 weeks and 6 days at 7:30am. His journey began with a scary moment when I couldn't feel him move from the Friday before his birth. I tried everything under the moon from ice to ice cream. Rushing to the hospital at 6:30am, they discovered his heartbeat dropping fast, leading to an emergency c-section with me being put under. The NICU Dr at Tripler Army Medical Center told us he was minutes from being a stillborn and the c-section that was preformed was the fastest one he’s ever seen. Our little Vasu faced a tough ..read more

“I woke up in the morning to a wet spot in my bed. I panicked and I stood a gush of amniotic fluid came out. I phoned the pregnancy triage and said “my waters have just gone” she replied “oh congratulations come on in” but before she had finished I said “yeah I’m only 26 weeks” My waters had gone due to a septic infection in my womb. I had felt so rub down and tired throughout the pregnancy and was told it was normal because I had another baby within a year. Lacey-Mae came in to the world later that day via an emergency caesarean under local anaesthetic. I had to wait nearly a whole day to see ..read more