Preemie Day - Day 26

Today is World Prematurity Day, and unless you’ve had a preemie it’s hard to understand our world. 

I think everyone will agree that having a new baby can be stressful.  I only know what it’s like to have a preemie and probably only will. Today I don’t want to talk about the negatives of having a preemie; instead let’s talk about the positives. 

• When you have a preemie you get what we called ‘bonus time’. We got an extra 8 weeks of love and snuggles with G.
• When you spend that much time with nurses and doctors around you learn a lot! You learn a lot about the medicine that’s helping your baby, the best way to treat things, and all the little things too.
• Brian and I got to have date nights while we were in the NICU. We knew G was in good hands, and we didn’t worry – well overly worry – when we headed out for dinner or to get groceries or just coffee.
• You become an expert on your baby before you even leave the hospital. We knew what G’s cries meant and how he liked to be bathed or held before we even left the hospital.
• Preemie clothes are possibly the cutest thing in the world! I remember the day we got to put our clothes on G for the first time! He was just so darn cute – the new born clothes that we thought he would never wear fit him till he was 4 months old. And the preemie clothes he had were too big at the beginning too.
• You cherish every hug and snuggle in a different way. When you go days without holding your baby, when you finally get to hold him your heart cries out with happiness and joy.
• You know that whatever your babies encounter in life they will conquer it. They’re such strong fighters from day one and you know that whatever they come up against in life they will do amazing.
• You learn a new language. You learn the language of the NICU; the machines, the terms, the nursing jargon. And in our case we learned 2 new languages, the second is the language of squidgies.
• You build an amazing bond as a couple. Brian and I know that no matter what we encounter we’ll make it through. In the 33 days we spent in the NICU we only had one ‘fight’ and it lasted about 20 minutes.
• You sometimes get more sleep than other new parents. We got to sleep through the night for the first 4 weeks of G’s life. I got 6 hours sleep straight every night; well except for the ones I spent by his bedside for over 24 hours.

I know we can all think of the negatives of having a preemie, but if we stop for an extra second I’m sure we could add a lot to the list. 

If you think of any post them in the comments.