Imagine... |
| For most people, it is
impossible to imagine what it is like to become a parent of a premature baby...Most people
have simple dreams of parenthood, and visions of sitting in a rocking chair as their
precious bundle drifts of to sleep... The *imagine* thread got its start when one preemie-l member, Diane Maroney, asked for some input for a speech she was preparing for a neonatal conference. She wanted us to describe what it is really like to be a parent of a preemie. The *imagines* became one of the most powerful and healing threads we have had on preemie-l. Another member, Becca Pittelko, was so moved by the strength in everyone's words, that she compiled all the imagines together and posted them to her website. Please visit "Imagine, stories of preemies" at the web address: http://prairie.lakes.com/~psydd/imagine/imagine.html Be warned, carry a box of tissue!! |
| Imagine being
asked by the Nuns in the hospital if they can baptize your darling 40 hour old baby
because the chances of him living for another 6 hours is virtually nil. Imagine the horror
of lying in your bed still connected to drips etc. and every time you hear footsteps
coming near the room you imagine it is someone coming to give you the bad news. Imagine
your joy and terror as he survives each new hour - waiting for the next crises. Imagine taking your baby home after 3 months in NICU only to have to readmit him 7 days later and then to find out that he had a complete collapse and had to be resuscitated. Imagine your joy when this tiny fragile little bundle turns 3 and cheekily sings "Happy Birthday, stink poo" Ina (Mom to Gareth 5 (33 weeker), Devin 3 (26 weeker) both of them full of beans and driving Mom and Dad dilly with their "loving fighting") |
| Imagine ... Your strong well-grown baby is lost and replaced by a 3 LB alien. The little son you prayed for is frightened, alone and in pain as you watch through a perspex barrier. The first time you hold your tiny fragile newborn, he opens his eyes to look at you for the first time and you recognize each other. Anne, mom of Jessica, 5 (a full-term beauty) and Vincent 26 weeks, now 2 |
| Imagine this...
your primary doctor tells you that there is nothing he can do... you're not even 24 weeks
along yet, and it would just be a miscarriage at this point... Imagine calling a different hospital and having them tell your boyfriend to get you down there right away... Imagine giving birth that very night, less than four hours after you got there... Then imagine that if you hadn't gone, your daughter would've been born at home- and died in your bed... Imagine that the neonatologist tells you your child won't last two weeks... and that's on the upside of things... Imagine looking at a bundle of tubes and wires and thinking "This is my child... do I want her to live?" Imagine that two weeks after your daughter is born, you are called down to the hospital because your daughter stopped urinating and is saturating in the low 60's... And then imagine that after you get there her sat's climb into the low 90's... Imagine watching your daughter cry as no sound comes out of her mouth, and the only way you can comfort her is to hold her hand... Imagine getting called in because your daughter needs surgury for NEC and even though you only missed one day she has swollen up to twice her regular size... Imagine looking at a three pound baby and saying to your daughter "One day you'll be big like that..." Imagine going in to visit your daughter, and hearing the nurses on the other side of the room talking about a baby that just died...AFTER it went home... Imagine wanting to get an apnea monitor, and keeping it- 'til she's 10... Imagine not holding your daughter until she's almost three months old... Imagine getting a phone call at work from your primary nurse saying "Your daughter extubated herself today..." Imagine hearing her first ever sound- and it's only a squeak, 'cos she's been been on the vent for so long... Imagine- it's not over yet... -Brooke, mother to Epiphany, born at 23 1/2 weeks, 1 lb. 7 1/4 oz, and 11 3/4 inches long |
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