Love, Ashley

“Dear NICU Mama, When you feel alone, I hope you know the windowless walls will one day crumble and sunshine will fill the room. You will begin to see you are never alone in this battle. 

It is a surreal feeling to be surrounded by an endless parade of doctors, nurses, specialists, and yet, at the same time feel so isolated. It’s a type of loneliness you have to walk to truly understand. And mama, we do. 

This community is small but mighty. We've seen triumph and we've seen heartbreak. We've walked these halls picking up the pieces and have come out on the other side, ready and waiting to help you do the same.

It might be hard to see now, but every time you walk down the hallway and enter your baby's room, I promise you — the NICU mamas that came before you left a small part of their heart in that room for you and your warrior to remind you that you are never alone in this journey.”

Love,
Ashley

More of Ashley + Emma’s NICU Journey:

“My name is Ashley and i'm a mom to Miss Emma Arlene. Emma was born at 27wks3days. We had a feeling we would have an early babe but wasn't expecting that early of a delivery. At my 20-week ultrasound it was discovered my cervix was VERY short (2.5cm is considered too short and mine was around .6cm). 

We were just told to stay close to the hospital and that there wasn't much we could do to prevent an early labor but hope for the best. I ended up going in on Sunday with some contractions - by Tuesday I was still pregnant and there wasn't a reason they felt i needed to stay in the hospital but wanted to keep me for 1 more night for observation. They took my IV out they were so confident.

Wednesday morning I woke up to being in active labor and about 5cm dilated. After 2 hours Emma was born at 1lb 15oz. Emma had a "textbook" NICU stay. she was quickly put in the "feeder grower" category after about 8 weeks in the NICU. She spend 94 days in the NICU and came home 3 days before we closed on our new house (which was also 2 weeks prior to Christmas & the snowiest winter in MN. great timing haha) 

Strange fact: both of my sisters who have kiddos had exstensive NICU stays with their littles. One sister delivered in the same room as me and our kids had NICU rooms across the hall from each other (5 years apart & both delivering a 27wk 3d baby). Of my parent's 6 grandkids- 4 had NICU stays for prematurity- all the preemie babies were for very different reasons. I included a photo of when Emma also got to “meet” her cousin Addie (born at 34wks) when Addie got RSV & spend the week down the hall. Their very first sleepover!”