Love, Valeria
“Dear NICU Mama, When your baby sees you, they see home.
As you hold them skin-to-skin for the first time, they hear your heartbeat close, know your smell, and feel your love.
When the future seems uncertain or the past few days feel too hard to bear, try to focus on today. Honor every win, endure every setback, and hold onto the strength you feel inside. Even on the harder days, you know there’s something in you that keeps you going. You may not understand it or know where it is coming from, but you know it is there because it has brought you this far already. Try to cling to it.
If you feel that your body failed them, please know that your baby is here because you kept fighting. You went to the appointments, you took the tests, you made decisions to keep them safe, even if that meant taking them out of your body where you were caring for them so lovingly. They are here, and they are still at home because you are here with them. You are fighting together, and you are stronger together. You have courage because of your baby, and they have courage because of you.
When your baby sees you, they see an unbreakable bond between you two. Despite the circumstances, the change of plans, and the overwhelming reality, that bond will keep you going through it all. Allow yourself to feel graceful at your strongest point, and remember to be kind to yourself at your weakest. Like life, this is a journey of ups and downs, but it’s usually while it’s darkest that we truly perceive the light inside us. Let it guide you, console you, empower you!
Dear NICU Mama, when your baby sees you, they see how your love overcomes all fears. You may feel like you don’t know what you are doing, but your love for them guides you every step of the way. You were their home for months, and you will continue to be just that for the rest of their life.
Every kiss, every hug, every loving word…is home.”
Love,
Valeria
More of Valeria + Mar’s NICU Journey:
“Mar was born at 33 weeks after an IUGR diagnosis. She weighed 3lbs at birth and is rocking 15lbs at 6 months old! She had been diagnosed with an isolated small omphalocele early in the pregnancy, but it was a small tear in the placenta that caused her early arrival. Mar spent 70 days in the NICU, mostly because she had a hard time regulating her glucose levels. Five hours after she was born, Mar had surgery for her Omphalocele. She had another surgery a couple of weeks later due to a complication with her central line—a small fragment of the catheter that was feeding her and providing her with medicine broke inside her vein, so a team of interventional radiologists, cardiologists, anesthesiologists, and more gathered within hours to save her life. Her operation was successful and another central line was placed later on to continue the fluids and medicine needed.
For days Mar was fed with her mother’s fortified milk through a tube directly to her stomach, until a few weeks later when she was able to breastfeed at least once a day. Today she continues to breastfeed only and recently started trying to eat solids. Her Omphalocele surgery healed very well, she doesn’t even have a scar, and she continues to be a great eater! Mar is truly tiny but mighty! Her strength and desire to live inspire mom and dad every single day! We call her Miss Congeniality, for her big smile and kind eyes.”
