When you’re the mom of a baby born prematurely, that means you are navigating life in the NICU…

When you’re the mom of a baby born prematurely, that means you are navigating life in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). It is a foreign land that only a select few get the ‘privilege’ to experience.

I say privilege because you learn so much about yourself, the ability to trust others with your most precious gifts and just how innately resilient you really can be with an enormously uncertain future ahead of you. But, in addition to that, when you are a NICU mom, there are a few elements to your daily routine that you start to view as comical.

➡️ You’re known as “Bessy” and the Land o’ Lakes truck covets your supply of milk.

➡️ Acronyms are a part of your everyday lingo…..NICU, CPAP, ROP,DSats,ABD’s.

➡️ You have multiple strategies for getting rockstar hospital parking.

➡️ You should own stock in the Medela company for all the products that you use.

➡️ You have the doctor “scrubbing-in” process down.

➡️ Your regular accessories consist of pink (or blue) hospital band(s) around your wrist and for the 37th day in a row, you’re tickled to say “yes, I ‘just’ had twins” as you ride to the Neonatal ICU floor.

➡️ You’re borrowing a neighbors freezer for your milk stash.

➡️ You’re ecstatic to see your girls (or boys!) in their first little outfit because it was not a given when they were born and it means they are able to regulate their body temperature.

➡️ The idea of your child(ren) being in an open crib brings tears to your eyes 😥

➡️ The NICU nurses see you more often than anyone else.

➡️ You’ve found yourself longing over the babies that are doing the car seat test.

➡️ You’re considering a second career as a nurse simply because it’ll be a no brainer at this point.

Are you a NICU mum? What would you add to this list?