What its like to be a NICU mommy

What its like to be a NICU mommy

Everyone has seen the happy mommies at the hospital
They stand at the glass window in their robe and admire their baby
Their tiny, perfect little baby
They stand there and they dream about the endless possibilities for this child’s future
Family gathers around them and they take pictures
Congratulations are passed around and hugs are shared
But down the hall behind closed doors there are other mommies
These mommies also wear robes and stand and stare at their babies
But their babies are not so perfect
Something has gone wrong
These mommies stand and peer in at the tiny windows of the incubator
Their babies have tubes down their throat and wires on their chests
There are no congratulations being passed around
In fact there is little being said
These mothers all had hopes and dreams for their child’s future too
However now these mothers just hope that these babies live to have a future
Yet in those brief moments when these mommies get to reach in and touch their baby
Something changes
For one brief moment these mommies are just the same as the mothers down the hall
They are just mother and child bonding like nature intended
Then an alarm goes off or a baby begins to die and they are quickly brought back to the reality of where they are
This is nothing like nature intended
Something has gone wrong
Terribly wrong
They are NICU mommies
A title they did not seek but has found them all the same
Yet the mommies down the hall with the perfect babies and perfect lives are oblivious
And so it goes….