NICU Moms

Hey NICU Moms,

There was a great article in the NY Times about the ongoing effects of the NICU trauma on parents. It is a great read. Check it out if you have had to go through the NICU experience.

Susan

thanks for the link! Naomi's NICU experience was highly traumatic for me...I didn't even realize it fully until much much later...Parker's wasn't fun either but it was a little easier the second time around. Same nurses, same isolette, it wasn't quite as scary. But oh, the fear...is just terrible.

Yeah, this article specifically talked about parents suffering PTSD, which I definitely think I went through. Ben was in the NICU for three months and crashed several times. There was an entire week where we thought he would be able to get off the ventilator and therefore would eventually die. It was harrowing.

Susan

I had read a similar article to that a few months ago, and it's so true. I know my neighbor had a 28 weeker and although he's in high school I still think she suffers...it fully sunk in for me how much her stay had affected me, months later when I still wouldn't let her do things that I had let Nathan do at the same age...(like sleep outside of my room, etc...) She wasn't sick the way that Ian (my neighbor's son) had been, but just seeing a baby so tiny (4 lbs 11 oz was her lowest weight, so not TOO tiny) hooked up to so many monitors, ugh it is not fun.

It's different everytime, I had a harder time seeing Logan in special care than I did Lukas or Leo maybe it's because as strange as it sounds it was scarier because he wasn't as sick as they had been. I guess I am also strange because Special Care has never really scared me, when they were in there I just got on with it all and nothing ever really bothered me, yet when I read the discharge forms or look at the photos they do scare me a little probably because they are proof of just how sick they were. That was definitely an interesting read though thanks for sharing. Hugs Crystal xx

I was a NICU mommy twice...all three of my boys were born a month early.

Good article. So true. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks for the link- it's a great article.

My son (now 4) was born 9 weeks early and stayed in the NICU for 6 weeks.