eatthefrostingfirst

It's November. I don't need to be reminded of National Prematurity Month because to me, everyday is a reminder of prematurity. For so many of you, your times of prematurity ended the day your baby came home from the NICU. You remember those days like they were yesterday. They might as well have been because the smell of purell, the beeping of the monitors, the swing of a rocking chair; it all brings you right back. It was the club we didn't want to join but we all instantly became professionals. We knew terms like ROP, IVH,SATS, and NEC. We couldn't wait to kangaroo care with our infants because that was the only time we actually got to touch and stare at them without a plastic isolette coming between us. The nurses- you nurses- you all became our friends. Our confidantes.  Our lifelines. I called you every few hours (the hours that it was not possible to be standing vigil beside the isolette). I called to check on his oxygen, his blood gases, his weight. You never...