Prematurity is one of those things you have to be there to understand.
I can tell you my daughters weighed one pound four ounces each and went to surgery just days after they were born weighing less than that.
I can tell you I couldn’t hold my daughters for months, and even once I could, I needed permission and help.
I can tell you their skin was so thin it couldn’t act as a barrier between them and the outside world.
I can tell you an infection ate through Vivienne’s thin skin all the way to the muscle.
I can tell you Margot stopped breathing; her heart stopped beating, and they brought her back to life.
I can tell you what a mother sounds like when she’s learned her baby died, but you would have had to be there to understand.
There is, however, something you can understand without setting foot in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: NICUs save lives.
November is Prematurity Awareness Month.
Some prematurity awareness efforts revolve around preventing prematurity by making sure mothers get the care need. Other efforts demand equity, access, and prevention for moms and babies, and these are worthy efforts.
It’s true that the U.S. is one of the most dangerous developed nations for childbirth.
It’s true that some premature births are preventable with education and medical care.
It’s also true that some premature births aren’t preventable. Mine wasn’t.
And so, this November, and likely every November for the rest of my life, I’m asking you to join my family in supporting our NICU family.
They said yes to our babies when so many other hospitals would have said “there’s nothing we can do.”
They said yes to our babies when they were so sick when so many other hospitals would have said, “it may not be worth it.”
They said yes to our babies before I did.
I get to watch my daughters climb the jungle gym and careen down the slide because the team at Winnie Palmer Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit fought for them.
Click here to give big.
From now through the twins’ birthdays, you’ll be hearing a lot about prematurity and the NICU and how you can make more miracles happen. Until then, please give big.
