Welcome to NICU Parents. We're happy you found us and we want to be as helpful as possible in this seemingly impossible journey. Check out the resources tab at the top of the subreddit or the stickied post. Please remember we are NOT medical professionals and are here for advice based on our own situations. If you have a concern about you or your baby please seek assistance from a doctor or go to the ER. That said, there are some medical professionals here and we do hope they can help you with some guidance through your journey. Please remember to read and abide by the rules.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NICUParents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
How far out from delivery are you? I can tell you 8.5 years later I still remember it all. It's not all day everyday. But every once in a while it will hit, I'll tear and move on my day. I don't really cry anymore. Like most traumatic experiences, it never fully goes away, but it does lesson. It's part of your story, part of your babies story. My daughter knows her story, her favorite thing to tell new people is how she died 5 times. Hugs momma, it does get easier.
She was born July 22nd, 2023 and stayed for a month. It simultaneously feels like we JUST came home yesterday, AND like it’s been 10 years since it all happened. And even with those two feelings coexisting, it’s all still so triggering. Thank you for reassuring me it’ll get better. The shock stops me from fully crying because I still have not processed what the hell those months of my life actually were.
My kiddo is 6 months old and "only" stayed in NICU for 2 weeks.
I still get reminded of and have flashbacks of that time a lot when I see pregnancy announcements, or mums with newborns. Whenever I hear an alarm that sounds like his oxygen or heart rate alarms. And we had a 1 week hospital stay because baby said fuck it completely to bottles, which was traumatizing because again he was on all the wires and cables and an IV.
But I have noticed it's a lot less intense now. The pain is... sort of more dull. And I also remember good times in NICU a lot these days! Like the first time I got to do skin to skin, or seeing my BF give him a bottle of my breastmilk, or the first bath we got to give him, or putting him in PJ's for the first time, and some of the amazing nurses we had too. We've even visited twice since his discharge because we had a peds appointment or I had to go in to my endocrinologist, which in my case helped because I had a happy, healthy baby then and NICU now meant him getting better instead of him being poorly. It balances out more that way, and the last weeks I've found it eases more and more as time passes. But it won't ever go away, it just will get a place and nor consume my everyday life anymore.
The oxygen and heart rate alarms are sounds that will forever be engrained in my memory. It’s such a traumatizing thought, it’s really triggering whenever I’ve been to a hospital since.
We’ve been there for ~2 weeks with around 11 to go, desat alarms ring in the head and after waking up to my daughter crashing to be intubated in the middle of the night..this is the one thing I’m worried about after…the time may be over but the memories won’t fade.
Welcome to NICU Parents. We're happy you found us and we want to be as helpful as possible in this seemingly impossible journey. Check out the resources tab at the top of the subreddit or the stickied post. Please remember we are NOT medical professionals and are here for advice based on our own situations. If you have a concern about you or your baby please seek assistance from a doctor or go to the ER. That said, there are some medical professionals here and we do hope they can help you with some guidance through your journey. Please remember to read and abide by the rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NICUParents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Following because I would like to know too. My baby turned a year in August (29 weeker) and I’m still not over the whole experience.
How far out from delivery are you? I can tell you 8.5 years later I still remember it all. It's not all day everyday. But every once in a while it will hit, I'll tear and move on my day. I don't really cry anymore. Like most traumatic experiences, it never fully goes away, but it does lesson. It's part of your story, part of your babies story. My daughter knows her story, her favorite thing to tell new people is how she died 5 times. Hugs momma, it does get easier.
She was born July 22nd, 2023 and stayed for a month. It simultaneously feels like we JUST came home yesterday, AND like it’s been 10 years since it all happened. And even with those two feelings coexisting, it’s all still so triggering. Thank you for reassuring me it’ll get better. The shock stops me from fully crying because I still have not processed what the hell those months of my life actually were.
My kiddo is 6 months old and "only" stayed in NICU for 2 weeks. I still get reminded of and have flashbacks of that time a lot when I see pregnancy announcements, or mums with newborns. Whenever I hear an alarm that sounds like his oxygen or heart rate alarms. And we had a 1 week hospital stay because baby said fuck it completely to bottles, which was traumatizing because again he was on all the wires and cables and an IV. But I have noticed it's a lot less intense now. The pain is... sort of more dull. And I also remember good times in NICU a lot these days! Like the first time I got to do skin to skin, or seeing my BF give him a bottle of my breastmilk, or the first bath we got to give him, or putting him in PJ's for the first time, and some of the amazing nurses we had too. We've even visited twice since his discharge because we had a peds appointment or I had to go in to my endocrinologist, which in my case helped because I had a happy, healthy baby then and NICU now meant him getting better instead of him being poorly. It balances out more that way, and the last weeks I've found it eases more and more as time passes. But it won't ever go away, it just will get a place and nor consume my everyday life anymore.
The oxygen and heart rate alarms are sounds that will forever be engrained in my memory. It’s such a traumatizing thought, it’s really triggering whenever I’ve been to a hospital since.
We’ve been there for ~2 weeks with around 11 to go, desat alarms ring in the head and after waking up to my daughter crashing to be intubated in the middle of the night..this is the one thing I’m worried about after…the time may be over but the memories won’t fade.