We shall all remember the young parents who faced the emotional roller coaster and surrounded their little fighters with love and optimism. Always work to ensure the baby’s safe and healthy delivery out of a deep love. Everybody can see that welcoming these little angels is an occasion for joy, pride, and luck above all else. These are some images of parents’ loving efforts with their newly born tiny angels:
My Kira at 36 weeks five pounds, two ounces. She was born with a blood infection, respiratory issues, and couldn’t keep her body heat. She had been transported to the NICU across town and I was not supposed to leave the hospital for the first two days. But my doctor was so understanding. He allowed me to leave four hours after she had been transported as long as I promised to come back in two hours. This was me holding her during those two hours. I was terrified for my baby girl I was worried about my husband at the time who had just put boots down in Kuwait and didn’t even know his daughter had been born or was very sick. She is now a happy healthy 8-year-old.
“Most parents would say the happiest day of their lives is the day their child is born. I don’t remember feeling happy on the day I delivered my son. I remember feeling scared, apprehensive, angry, exhausted. This photo was taken during the very first time I finally got to hold him and cuddle with him for an hour. He became so calm, and his breathing was so much easier when I held him that the nurses said I could keep cuddling him for as long as I could. This was the happiest day of my life. Aidan was born at 26 weeks and weighed only 650 grams. He stayed in the NICU for four months and came home on oxygen for another four months. He had a rough year after NICU but he is a fighter and the nurses said he is a feisty one, and now he is 2 years old and healthy.”
“At 32 weeks, Hunter was born. Due to an early birth hemorrhage, I had to undergo emergency surgery while he was transported to the NICU. I’ve never actually seen or touched my son before. I’m not sure whether I could accurately express what I was feeling or thinking at this very moment in time. He was definitely worth it despite the overwhelming feelings of joy, love, and dread I was experiencing.”
“Hello, Audrey. I was wondering about what amazing parents we would make for our twins in the future, as well as why I couldn’t cuddle her, why my head hurt, and what medications they had given me. Where is my second infant? Why do those tubes exist? What am I agreeing to? Why don’t they stay united? There was too much pondering going on. My daughters, who were born identically, were 24 weeks and 6 days gestational age on June 11, 2015. Our firstborn twin, a beautiful angel named Alice, passed on that day because she was too good for this world. I wish I could convey to you how challenging this is to speak. However, our brave and lovely second twin Audrey just celebrated her first birthday.
“This photo was taken about 36 hours after my now-33-week-old son was born. It was the first time I was able to see him as I bled out after my C-section due to pre-eclampsia complications. I remember being shocked at how light he was (four pounds, six ounces) and how absolutely beautiful and perfect every inch of his tiny face was.”
“I had been in the hospital for five days straight, only seeing my husband and two other children for very, very brief spurts of time. I had finally gone home, showered and gotten dressed like a person. Then I came back to the hospital after this two hour ‘break’, the NICU nurses handed me my baby and I just melted. What I would have done to help my baby breathe, help her eat, help her be healthy. This picture just captures that moment of us making a deal — ‘Baby girl I will move mountains for you, I just need you to get a little stronger and work a little harder.’ And wow did she step up to the challenge! That little four-pound peanut is now a beautiful, brilliant, spunky 3-year-old. She is the strongest and happiest child. Having a preemie changed mine and my husbands life forever, and now I can’t imagine it any other way!
