If you have spent in
a little time in the NICU with your baby then you know a level of fear, anxiety
and worry that most parents of typical children may never feel.
I remember thinking to myself “I am not part of this NICU
crowd there is nothing wrong with my baby we will be out of here in a day”. I
think this was my first toe dip into a nice stage of denial (later on I would
take the whole plunge into that sea of denial.) Mighty Z didn’t stay 1 day she
stayed 180 days in the NICU before she made her adventure home.
During our Six month sabbatical in the NICU we spent Valentine’s
Day, My husband and my third wedding anniversary, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s
Day, and the Fourth of July smelling the sweet smell of medical tape and
iodine.
In the years that followed
we spent many other holidays and even Mighty Z’s 4th birthday was spent in a
PICU. Thankfully we have never spent Christmas in the NICU or PICU (knock on
wood.)
Since I have been up at Children does Medical Center NICU a
lot this past year to love on sweet babies, I found myself reliving memories of
Might Z’s babyhood. I remember Might Z’s nurses making valentine cards for
Mighty Z, and they even made a mother’s day and father’s day cards for us with
Mighty Z’s picture on them. At Easter time I asked my nurse to put Mighty Z’s
Easter Basket by her little NICU crib before she woke up so she could see that
the Easter Bunny came. Even though these are sweet little memories of life in
the NICU it was almost unbearable.
So now we are almost 12 years old (11 ½ years free of the
NICU) it is time those wounds were healed. I think we all will bear the battle
scars, but we wear them with pride. Yes it was hard no mother, father or
sibling should have to do this, but we have beaten the odds.
So here is my advice for those who are told that your child
will not live, “Don’t give up hope!! The Doctors as smart as they are do not
really know who will live in who will die; all they can give is their opinion
and what they have read on your condition and even that is not accurate. I
always say doctors know a whole lot about just a little bit.”
Don't give up you too will beat
the odds
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