Love, Samantha

“Dear NICU Mama, As this year comes to an end, I hope you can celebrate your story. I hope you can acknowledge you may never know why you had to experience it. That uncertainty can be debilitating. The NICU can make you feel small. Overwhelmed. Exhausted.

I hope you can celebrate your purpose here. This is your story too. You have a role to play. A love to bring. A unique perspective that the doctors, nurses, and specialists can’t see. While your children may not remember these days, you will. And you will rise to every occasion. You are the one most equipped – with both your strength and vulnerability – to forge the right path for your child.

I hope and pray that when you walk away and look back you can say, “I did that.”

Love,
Samantha

More of Samantha + Arthur’s NICU story:

“Looking back now, my waters started leaking around 20 weeks. Between an emergency room visit and an anatomy scan over the next two weeks, I was told that wasn’t the case. We had made plans to move in the summer with my due date in October to be closer to family. 

At 22 weeks, the day before the moving trucks came, I was admitted to the hospital to high risk pregnancy with little fluid surrounding my son. At 25 weeks, Arthur was born weighing 1 lb 8.5 oz. For the next 138 days the NICU was my home with my husband and daughter hours away in our new house. 

Arthur’s fight has been extraordinarily to watch. A journey with both amazing feats and sheer exhaustion. He went through every level of breathing support, treatment from ROP, and many other ups and downs. I was there every day, escaping only occasionally to drive down to see my husband and daughter for the weekend. 

It was 138 days of talking through rounds with doctors. Learning from nurses and specialists how his development and growth were tracking. Hundreds of hours in a chair holding him just to get an escape from and isolette or crib. I asked at least a thousand questions; insistent to understand the plan of care in and out. 138 days of battle, stress, and anxiety…that I only got through with family, friends, NICU parents, and therapy. 

We discharged days before Thanksgiving. Finally, a family under one roof. A sister meeting her little brother. A husband and wife back together again. We celebrate and say welcome home, Arthur.”