Love, Shacreya
“Dear NICU Mama, Practicing gratitude during a season of grief can be a challenging obstacle. Although you are so thankful for your new beautiful baby, you may have found that your emotions are in a bit of a tug-of-war state. Perhaps you’re feeling grief, anger, and sadness in the midst of your happiness. Give yourself time. It’s okay to feel both grief and joy as you progress.
A NICU stay is never the vision we had for our new bundles of joy, and your plans and ideas of motherhood may look different going forward. With intentional self-love, you will graduate from this pain. This is a difficult journey and it’s going to be a process, but know you are not alone and you can do this. Even when you don’t feel like you can move forward, know that every day you show up you are enough.
Hold your head high, mama. Your incredibly strong baby is strong because of you!”
Love,
Shacreya
More of Shacreya + Brave’s NICU Journey:
"Our family of 3 was anxiously awaiting as we prayed and tried for our second baby. In January 2022, that dreams came true my husband and I found out we were expecting our second baby!
From the very beginning my pregnancy was off to a rocky start. I had low HCG levels (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin), meaning that my levels were not rising at the same speed as a normal pregnancy. At this point doctors warned me of the likelihood of a miscarriage. Never less, we were determined and would continue to pray; keep faith that everything would be okay and we would welcome a healthy baby in September 2022.
On May 1st, my husband and I, along with our closest friends and family found out that they were expecting a baby boy! Our 4 year old expressed that he was hoping for a girl, but was still ecstatic to have a baby brother.
The week of May 16th, l started to experience some light back pain; discomfort and cramping. On May 19th, 2022 my husband and I were putting out first son to bed, when I started to experience intense cramping, it progressed quickly; crying and curled in a ball on my bed I told myself to keep track of how close a part the cramping would occur. The pain intensified and became back to back cramping, I knew I was there in labor.
I told my husband we need to leave NOW! He rushed me to St. John's hospital, where we were told I was 10 cm dilated. The doctors informed us that the baby was breech; and they could not find a heartbeat. At this point, I realized I would be giving birth to a stillborn. However, one the doctors decided to check one last time....and they found the faintest heartbeat.
In a matter of seconds, I was rushed back for an emergency C-Section. Petrified and sobbing I did not know what the outcome would be for Brave, I prayed and cried with the nurses around her. Brave was born May 19th, 2022 at 11:02PM, weighing 1 lb 09 oz. Due to being born four months early, Brave was then rushed to the Hospital. Brave was receiving minute by minute care.
Fast forward Brave is now 47 week corrected 11 pounds & 4 ounces he’s has had two heart surgeries, recovered from a collapsed lung, eye injections and now has a tracheostomy. Brave is such a strong baby boy; is continuing to thrive and is a happy boy. We have such a long road ahead of us and we anticipate the day we bring him to be with his family!”
