I've organized the responses and grouped them. The only editing I did was to check spelling and grammar. As many different people contributed to this list, sometimes the answers contradict themselves. Please go with what you feel best would help your loved one.
The following members contributed to this list: IntoRainbowz, Zan&Zav, lindberg99, OGirlieMama, sunflowers, splendid, lena1984, Cressida, felix23, Lousli, Amys1st, Aimee21972, tbavrbab, curlymama, nathansmom, alliteration, homewithtwinsmama, onyxravnos, Rachel J., DoubleLove
If you want something added, please either PM me or just add it on.
:
Bed rest/High Risk Pregnancy
•Please don't judge me or my choices(this includes my birth choices and choices made in the NICU). This was not my dreamed for pregnancy, and nothing is going the way I want it to.
•There is no one way to "do bed rest" correct.
•Please don't tell me all the horror stories you know about pregnancies gone wrong. It just adds to my worries. My doctor probably has done a very good job educating me about risks and outcomes. Once people knew I was having problems, I heard all about their, their family, their friend's cousin's neighbor and their baby who died/was brain damaged/missing an arm etc
•Don't tell a pregnant woman who's baby is failing to grow how slim she looks. Pregnant women are not supposed to be thin. Don't tell someone when you learn they are having a baby the next day that "You don't even look pregnant." Most women probably want to be told they look thin, but not a woman who has fretted over every ounce she has not gained.
•Please lend my videos/books that you have in your libraries. That saved me having to get DH to get them for me. Even if you don't think I would usually read or watch that type of book/movie try me. I got REALLY bored on bed rest, and the John Wayne collection I was lent was very entertaining.
•Unless you are a doctor, please don't give me medical advice, unless I ask for it. (Even if you are a doctor, but not mine, think about this one.) I got really tired of having to explain over and over again to people that were not medical providers why we were doing what we were. If I ask, give me your opinion.
•Please don't tell me how hard the last few months of pregnancy are or complain how horrible it was to be overdue around me.
•Asking me if I am SURE I had my dates right...because she did so well, I MUST have miscalculated. I am sub-fertile (not fertile, not infertile, just takes lightening striking a lottery winner, k?) and I track my cycles like a hawk, there is no way in the world I got my dates wrong...AND the dates were confirmed by SEVERAL first trimester ultrasounds because I have a tendency to miscarry frequently. GOT IT?!
•When hearing about the birth, don't say - "Is she alive?" that's a little blunt and brutal don't you think?? If you are curious about her condition, try something a little more tactful...like "How is she?"
•Don't tell me about how lucky I am to not have to go thru the last month or two of pregnancy.
•Don't tell me how a cesarean-section is so much easier and I'm lucky I had to have one.
•Don't tell me how it's 'no big deal' and everything will be fine because people have preemies all the time and they are just fine.
•Don't compare my preemie baby's death to the death of an older person as no big deal since "you didn't know her anyway".
•Don't tell me how lucky I was to have my babies at the hospital so I could recover and catch up on sleep. There is nothing more in this world I wanted then to have my babies with me at all times. There is absolutely nothing 'lucky' about having babies in the hospital.
•Don't judge me if I have to go back to work while my baby is in the hospital. I may have used all my leave on bed rest, and have to go back to maintain the health insurance.
•Don't pressure me to have more children quickly, or to chose a VBAC. I've been through something traumatic. My body has failed me at a very primal level to have a preemie. However, if I want a VBAC or more children please don't tell me that I'm nuts for wanting one, or being sad if I can't find a doctor to do this. Please support my choices.
General NICU/Medical Questions/Visiting
•Call and ask if I want visitors. I wanted people to come see my baby, but I needed to know so I could be there. Most NICU's have a limited visitor policy, so I need to be able to do some planning.
•Please don't be hurt if I don't want you to visit. I may not have the energy. Please do not expect to hold the baby, as my time holding my baby is very limited and honestly, I can't spare that time with others.
•Please don't continually ask me when my baby will be coming home. I have no idea.
•Please don't compare my baby to other preemies you have known. Maybe I'm the only one but even the positive stories bugged me because I wasn't sure my son was going to be one of them.
•Please tell me how cute my babies are and try not to go overboard on the "look how tiny!" stuff.
•Please take your cues from me and the other people in the NICU and don't freak out at every alarm.
•Research is great. Educating yourself is awesome. Please do not act like you are an expert on the subject because you read something on the internet or know a friend of a friend. Each baby is unique and different, and as such my baby may not fit into what you have read. Please do not attempt to teach me about my baby.
•Please don't ask when my child is finally going to "catch up" with other children. I DON'T KNOW! It has been a year and Lilly still hasn't "caught up". She may always be a little behind and I don't really care, I'm just glad that she is alive. Try to focus on what my child can do, not what they can't.
•I appreciate that you had a close friend or family member with a baby in the NICU and you have seen a NICU baby before. I hate to sound harsh, but if it wasn't your baby you really cannot completely understand how I feel.
•Don't tell me that your neighbor who was 8 oz is now at Harvard.
•Don't tell other people when they meet my DD that she was only a pound and look at her now. She is a beautiful happy baby girl not a freak show.
•Don't compare my child and her development to other preemies. It may give them hope but there will be other things that can happen to that baby that didn't happen to my baby.
•Don't expect me to answer your call or return it within the first 4 weeks of my preemie's arrival.
•Don't expect me for dinner today, Sunday, any upcoming holiday maybe for the next year. Now, because I will spend it w either my family at home or in the nicu. Later because your child may give my baby rsv and it could hospitalize her or kill her. Or maybe she doesn't like the loud crowd.
•Don't describe my child as anything but a beautiful baby.
•Don't use animal words or toys to describe them.
•Don't ask about doll clothes.
•If I will allow you to visit, meet me at the nicu at the said time. Don't expect me to pick you up, drive with you whatever.
•Do give me money for the parking I will be ok and besides I can pay for tomorrow's parking.
•PLEASE, PLEASE don't tell me that my baby is so big, and already caught up that couldn't possibly have been in the NICU.
•Don't then ask me why my baby isn't doing such-and-so yet, so-and-so's baby is doing it who was born within days...
•Don't tell me how "lucky" I am to have a small baby...I didn't WANT a small baby...
•Never compare my baby to a runt.
•When you come into the NICU to visit my baby, focus only on my baby...don't peer at anyone else's baby. Privacy is nonexistent in the NICU, so we parents and visitors have to respect others' right to privacy and keep our eyes and ears on our own babies only.
•Ask me questions! There's a lot about preemie care and NICU life that people don't understand, not to mention questions about my baby's condition. Don't be afraid to ask me...most of the time I am willing to answer and explain because talking about it helps me understand it too, and if you understand more then you can be more supportive.
•Even if you had a preemie 10, 20 or 50 years ago, doesn't mean that advice hasn't changed about how to take care of preemies. My step mother kept hers in an oven and chain smoked, according to her. She was offended when I wouldn't let my son over to her smoke filled house.
•Also if I am crying it isn't Post Partum Depression, it's because all my hopes and dreams for a healthy pregnancy, vaginal delivery and healthy baby have blown up. I don't need medication, I need support!
•That said, mommies of Preemies/Nicu babies are at high risk for Post Partum Depression. Please keep an eye on me, without smothering me, and help me get needed support and treatment if PPD does hit me.
•If you made an appointment to visit, please be on time. I may have scheduled a pumping session around your visit, and your being late will mess this up and I could end up engorged and in pain.
•Ignore the tubes and wires and tell me he is beautiful. Because he is.
Illness/germs/After Nicu
•Please let me know if you are sick. If I get sick, I can't see my baby, so I don't want to risk it. If you are sick at all, please do not come and see my baby.
•Please don't tell me I'm being an overprotective first time mom when I won't let you hold baby or bring baby to your party, we spent months in the hospital, and are not eager to return.
•Please don't tell me I'm being ridiculous when I'm fastidious about hand washing and keeping sick people away from my baby, RSV kills little babies like mine.
•I wish that people would respect that just because he is home doesn't mean he is like every other baby.
•We chose not to do the RSV shots (don't flame me) and kept secluded and made everyone who did come swear they were well and wash with soap water and Purell if they came in. Baby was only "family held" for a year as well. But still one "friend" came to bring a meal and walked in with 3 sniveling clearly sick with cold kids into my living room. I retreated to the upstairs and had my husband get her out quickly. Didn't eat the food either! I should have known. This same UA violation of a friend came to my daughter's funeral with her kids in flip-flops and shorts and t-shirts. I was stunned the unfunny joke in the family now is that she said 'hey kids lets stop at a funeral on the way to the pool!' I really can barely talk to her any more.
•Don't tell me how you can't believe how sick my preemies get. Just because you had a child at 36 weeks and/or you know other preemies that don't get sick doesn't mean mine don't get sick. We've battled more then our share of colds and illnesses and to be told we must be making it up because no one else's kids get sick as often as mine is an insult.
•Don't tell me how lucky I am that my babies will take a bottle and pacifier.
•Just because they are now 11 and 12 pounds doesn't mean they are immunologically as strong as term babies at that size.
•Don't even think about touching my babies without using antibacterial hand sanitizer... even if you think it contributes to allergies in our society. My babies are in the middle of RSV season!
•Don't expect to hold a baby when you come over (especially soon after they came home). I may not want them out of my arms.
Emotional Support
•Please don't preach to me. If you have not been here as the mother of a sick baby, you don't know anything about this.
•Please don't "should" on me. I'm doing my best. Please don't tell me how I "should" feel, react, behave. Please don't tell me I "should" live at the NICU, or judge me for staying at the hospital all the time.
•Please understand that while my baby is in the hospital that is where my focus is. Please don't expect me to come to social activities. This is very important when I'm on bed rest.
•Please don't give me parenting advice. I'm not really parenting my baby anyway; I'm doing what the hospital allows. I probably don't have the emotional energy to fight hospital policy.
•I'm still a new mom. I'm hormonal. Please be kind to me, and give me lots of breaks for any bad behavior.
•I'm tired. Please don't say "be glad your baby is in the hospital" or anything like that. I am not sleeping well; I'm either up pumping or worried for my baby.
•Please don't ask what I did to cause this.
•Please don't ask questions I can't answer, like will my baby ever be "normal".
•Please ask how I am, I may need a shoulder.
•Don't back away when I cry, it is very emotional to have a baby sick.
•Please don't casually ask "How's the baby doing?" Even a year later... there won't be a short answer unless I'm blowing you off and I hate to feel rude. If you really want to know then I'll usually be happy to share.
•My friends and family were very supportive when we were in the NICU, my mother in law would listen and ask questions. My mom would ask me how is was doing. These two women who like to tell me how it is, took a step back and listened. It was nice.
•PLEASE don't try to tell me that you understand, because unless your child/baby is sick, you truly, honestly DON'T.
•Please don't tell me how you know of this other preemie who's now 18 and 6 feet tall and completely healthy.
•Please don't tell me about another smaller, younger baby who is 'just fine' because every baby is different, has had different circumstances in utero, and frankly, isn't my baby.
•Please don't say clichéd phrases like, "if it was meant to be...", no baby is meant to be born early and sick.
•Please don't tell me "at least you've had this much time with him/her", when my baby's health has been going downhill.
•Please don't tell me a story about your friend's cousin who had a baby so much smaller than mine and tell me what a "good size" my daughter is and how she will be okay. Four pounds isn't a good size to me, it is scary.
•Thank you for the congratulations but please don't pretend that everything is wonderful right now and I should be a glowing new mother.
•It is not easier to be a new parent to a preemie because I'm "resting and letting someone else take care of her." I want to be taking care of her. Waking up every three hours to pump is not restful, and it is much, much harder than waking up next to your sweet newborn baby.
•I'm not "over it" and I might not ever be. Try not to be awkward, change the subject, or roll your eyes if I still get emotional about my daughter's birth and NICU experience 2 years later.
•Please understand that my 3 year-old may not know how she feels, might not be nice to you right now, or talk to you at all, and will not be able to answer the question about how it feels to be a big sister.
•Don't ask when I'm having more children, or if I will try for a boy, or nod knowingly and say 'It is probably for the best" if I say we are done having children.
•Don't disappear off the face of the planet after my baby is born. If you are scared of the hospital, tell me. If you don't know how to deal with me in a fragile state, let me know it is tough for you. But walking away completely...makes me feel that you were never my friend, especially if you try to come back into my life after 6 months of not talking to me.
•Don't give me a hard time because I didn't tell you details about whatever was happening. It was hard enough for me to understand and discuss w my dh.
•Unless you have also spent 12 plus weeks in the nicu or picu with your child. Do not tell me what I should do, what I should have done, how I should act or what I should tell you. If you're hurt because I didn't give you details or blew you off, I have the rest of my life to listen to you and I may not have had that time with my child.
•On the second point, (we were only there 6 weeks), but I want to stress that this goes for mothers, sisters, nurses, social workers. If you have not been there done that, you do not understand. Don't say you do. This applies to the mom of the mom, and MIL too. (Both my mom and MIL had problems with how I "did" the NICU and I had to deal with them as well as a NICU baby.) Very well said!
•Please don't compare my baby to other preemies you have known. Maybe I'm the only one but even the positive stories bugged me because I wasn't sure my son was going to be one of them.
•Not me, I loved every single happy story. We have a cousin who was a 29 week preemie miracle over 40 years ago (guess what the nuns did - kangaroo cared him-moms weren't allowed to hold, just nurse/nuns). I told him he was Kalleigh's role model in the family.
•Don't keep pestering me for answers. Don't say- But you said she was doing good. Guess what, that all can change in a second which is why they call it an emotional roller coaster.
•I don't have the time or emotional energy to deal with your drama. Please keep it to yourself.
Gifts/ Physical needs/Cards
•Don't ask me what I need. I don't know what I need. Give me some suggestions if you want to help. Like "Can I take your laundry home and bring it back?" "Can I come load your dishwasher and wash the pans?" Can I clean out your car?"
•Please congratulate me on my new baby. Please do not act like my baby is dead. Please do not send "thinking of you" or condolence cards. Please send me a congratulations on your new baby card.
•Please bring over food and offer to baby-sit my older children. I have two neighbors who babysat my 2 year old often and this was just the best gift I received.
•Please feed me, even if I say I am not hungry - just leave the food where I can get to it.
•On the food thing, most homes need milk, bread, toilet paper, and laundry soap on a regular basis. If you want to help but don't know what to do, purchase a regularly used household item and drop it by.
•Bringing over dinner, without asking, was a gesture so sweet it brought me to tears.
•Baby gifts, even when my child is in the hospital, are wonderful and give me joy and something to look forward to watching her grow into (and I'm sorry if the thank you notes are late).
•Do bring to my house a hot dinner or something you know I love to eat.
•Do drop off a care package of tabloid magazines, anything you know I like to read or something I like to do to pass time. Pumping rooms are so lonely and need something to read. Besides, the nurses also like tabloids and it takes the edge off sometimes.
•Do offer to clean my house, laundry, dishes, take my children or pay the sitter for me.
•Do give me the cutest preemie outfit you ever saw and say you saw it and thought of my baby.
•Do give me a mama brag book so I can put the babies pics in there to show people.
•Offer to bring me lunch at the hospital while I'm there with my baby, don't expect conversation, but if I seem to need to talk about it, let me even if you've heard it already.
•Please give me granola or health food bars, food I can sneak and eat in the NICU.
•Candy is welcome as well. If you give me wrapped candy, I can pass this on to the nurses.
•I'd love a nice soft shawl or sweater, something small, but easy to remove. It gets very cold in the NICU sometimes.
•It is dry in the NICU, so a nice lip balm or lotion would be nice. Please go easy on any scented products, as one of the ways my baby is comforted is by my scent, and strong perfumes irritate little tiny noses.
•One of the kindest gifts I received was a tabloid left on my office chair with a post-it on it saying, I know you love these, in an ashamed way. It was so very thoughtful. There is only so long you can stare at your baby sleep in an isolette before you get very bored. That gift led to an actually fun discussion with the nurses about is baby Suri real.
•I welcome any offers of watching my older child so my husband and I can be in the NICU with the baby!
•Don't send me a sympathy card, thoughts and prayers cards and don't give me the standard BS answer "If there is anything I can do for you, call me." Send me a blue or pink card and say I am thinking of you and your beautiful baby.
•Do stuff that you know I need or want done. I still need a gallon of milk, eggs, stuff for dd1, etc. All the stuff you pick up at the grocery, we need too. If you want to drop it off, please do!
•Don't tell me, what does your dh or you have to visit EVERYDAY? Well yes, its our child and we will and we don't need to actually answer that...
•If you just found out and you're an acquaintance from church, school etc don't drill me how horrible it is. This happened to me- a couple who went thru out baptism class called me one afternoon as I just walked in. And was going on and on how horrible it was for us. I was on a high for doing Kangaroo care that week for the first time and this weirdo was telling me how "awful and horrible what happened to us". After a minute, I cut her off and said can you call me another time???
Pictures
•Don't pester me to see photos of my baby in the NICU. She is naked and in pain and it hurts her dignity to be stared at and gawked over.
•For me, it was please tolerate me as I email out tons of pictures, accost almost everyone with pictures, ask you to watch videos on the tiny screen on my camcorder, and talk endlessly about my baby. My DD had a diaper on, and was not in pain, just tiny, so this is one of those we are all different things. I loved sharing pictures.
Nursing/Pumping/Breast Feeding/Formula Feeding/Feeding challenges
•Please don't judge me if nursing is not going well. I'm trying. It is very hard to pump. My time is so tight, and pumping is just one more time and emotional demand on me. If I ask for help, please give it. Please don't judge me if I cannot keep up nursing. It is emotionally draining. I'm tired.
•If I ask for help with pumping/nursing and you know the answer, please help me. If you don't than say so. Please don't guess and give me bad advice.
•Please don't talk about how easy it was for you to breastfeed and pump. I tried the best I could; it simply didn't work out for us.
•Don't ask me how I intend to feed that teeny baby with my chest...don't I smother her?? (i.e. for those who can't figure it out, Adara was small, my chest was...is...rather large) (oh I HATED this one - probably because I was terrified of it already!!)
•Also if you are coming during a feeding or an attempt at breast feeding, your visit comes second to my child's schedule.
Suggestions for Medical Providers
•For nurses, especially those who have never had a baby of their own in the NICU and ESPECIALLY for those who don't have children; please remember that although this is your job and you've been trained to care for the specific issues of our children, these are OUR babies and we do have some sense of how to care for and comfort them even if they're very small and fragile.
•For NICU staff, please encourage and empower parents to research and be involved at their own comfort level. It seems too easy for the staff to "just do their jobs" and forget that this is a life changing, traumatic event that involves a mommy, daddy and their baby. (We were told that ds wouldn't do well with the stimulation of touch, at 30 weeks, so of course we didn't want to touch him and negatively affect him. It was over two weeks before I held him because no one told me that it would be okay and I was still too stunned at that point to know any better).
•For NICU staff, occasionally check out recent research in neonatology. The internet is an easy place to find it. It's frustrating as a parent to continually confront "outdated" information with nurses and other staff.
•Never tell me I caused a brady/ desat/ low temperature. Help me touch my baby and manage her over stimulation issues.
•Let me do what I can. Teach me to do what I can, but need to learn. I can change diapers, bathe the baby, change the bedding, take temperature, etc. Please help empower me to be involved with my baby.
The following members contributed to this list: IntoRainbowz, Zan&Zav, lindberg99, OGirlieMama, sunflowers, splendid, lena1984, Cressida, felix23, Lousli, Amys1st, Aimee21972, tbavrbab, curlymama, nathansmom, alliteration, homewithtwinsmama, onyxravnos, Rachel J., DoubleLove
If you want something added, please either PM me or just add it on.
Bed rest/High Risk Pregnancy
•Please don't judge me or my choices(this includes my birth choices and choices made in the NICU). This was not my dreamed for pregnancy, and nothing is going the way I want it to.
•There is no one way to "do bed rest" correct.
•Please don't tell me all the horror stories you know about pregnancies gone wrong. It just adds to my worries. My doctor probably has done a very good job educating me about risks and outcomes. Once people knew I was having problems, I heard all about their, their family, their friend's cousin's neighbor and their baby who died/was brain damaged/missing an arm etc
•Don't tell a pregnant woman who's baby is failing to grow how slim she looks. Pregnant women are not supposed to be thin. Don't tell someone when you learn they are having a baby the next day that "You don't even look pregnant." Most women probably want to be told they look thin, but not a woman who has fretted over every ounce she has not gained.
•Please lend my videos/books that you have in your libraries. That saved me having to get DH to get them for me. Even if you don't think I would usually read or watch that type of book/movie try me. I got REALLY bored on bed rest, and the John Wayne collection I was lent was very entertaining.
•Unless you are a doctor, please don't give me medical advice, unless I ask for it. (Even if you are a doctor, but not mine, think about this one.) I got really tired of having to explain over and over again to people that were not medical providers why we were doing what we were. If I ask, give me your opinion.
•Please don't tell me how hard the last few months of pregnancy are or complain how horrible it was to be overdue around me.
•Asking me if I am SURE I had my dates right...because she did so well, I MUST have miscalculated. I am sub-fertile (not fertile, not infertile, just takes lightening striking a lottery winner, k?) and I track my cycles like a hawk, there is no way in the world I got my dates wrong...AND the dates were confirmed by SEVERAL first trimester ultrasounds because I have a tendency to miscarry frequently. GOT IT?!
•When hearing about the birth, don't say - "Is she alive?" that's a little blunt and brutal don't you think?? If you are curious about her condition, try something a little more tactful...like "How is she?"
•Don't tell me about how lucky I am to not have to go thru the last month or two of pregnancy.
•Don't tell me how a cesarean-section is so much easier and I'm lucky I had to have one.
•Don't tell me how it's 'no big deal' and everything will be fine because people have preemies all the time and they are just fine.
•Don't compare my preemie baby's death to the death of an older person as no big deal since "you didn't know her anyway".
•Don't tell me how lucky I was to have my babies at the hospital so I could recover and catch up on sleep. There is nothing more in this world I wanted then to have my babies with me at all times. There is absolutely nothing 'lucky' about having babies in the hospital.
•Don't judge me if I have to go back to work while my baby is in the hospital. I may have used all my leave on bed rest, and have to go back to maintain the health insurance.
•Don't pressure me to have more children quickly, or to chose a VBAC. I've been through something traumatic. My body has failed me at a very primal level to have a preemie. However, if I want a VBAC or more children please don't tell me that I'm nuts for wanting one, or being sad if I can't find a doctor to do this. Please support my choices.
General NICU/Medical Questions/Visiting
•Call and ask if I want visitors. I wanted people to come see my baby, but I needed to know so I could be there. Most NICU's have a limited visitor policy, so I need to be able to do some planning.
•Please don't be hurt if I don't want you to visit. I may not have the energy. Please do not expect to hold the baby, as my time holding my baby is very limited and honestly, I can't spare that time with others.
•Please don't continually ask me when my baby will be coming home. I have no idea.
•Please don't compare my baby to other preemies you have known. Maybe I'm the only one but even the positive stories bugged me because I wasn't sure my son was going to be one of them.
•Please tell me how cute my babies are and try not to go overboard on the "look how tiny!" stuff.
•Please take your cues from me and the other people in the NICU and don't freak out at every alarm.
•Research is great. Educating yourself is awesome. Please do not act like you are an expert on the subject because you read something on the internet or know a friend of a friend. Each baby is unique and different, and as such my baby may not fit into what you have read. Please do not attempt to teach me about my baby.
•Please don't ask when my child is finally going to "catch up" with other children. I DON'T KNOW! It has been a year and Lilly still hasn't "caught up". She may always be a little behind and I don't really care, I'm just glad that she is alive. Try to focus on what my child can do, not what they can't.
•I appreciate that you had a close friend or family member with a baby in the NICU and you have seen a NICU baby before. I hate to sound harsh, but if it wasn't your baby you really cannot completely understand how I feel.
•Don't tell me that your neighbor who was 8 oz is now at Harvard.
•Don't tell other people when they meet my DD that she was only a pound and look at her now. She is a beautiful happy baby girl not a freak show.
•Don't compare my child and her development to other preemies. It may give them hope but there will be other things that can happen to that baby that didn't happen to my baby.
•Don't expect me to answer your call or return it within the first 4 weeks of my preemie's arrival.
•Don't expect me for dinner today, Sunday, any upcoming holiday maybe for the next year. Now, because I will spend it w either my family at home or in the nicu. Later because your child may give my baby rsv and it could hospitalize her or kill her. Or maybe she doesn't like the loud crowd.
•Don't describe my child as anything but a beautiful baby.
•Don't use animal words or toys to describe them.
•Don't ask about doll clothes.
•If I will allow you to visit, meet me at the nicu at the said time. Don't expect me to pick you up, drive with you whatever.
•Do give me money for the parking I will be ok and besides I can pay for tomorrow's parking.
•PLEASE, PLEASE don't tell me that my baby is so big, and already caught up that couldn't possibly have been in the NICU.
•Don't then ask me why my baby isn't doing such-and-so yet, so-and-so's baby is doing it who was born within days...
•Don't tell me how "lucky" I am to have a small baby...I didn't WANT a small baby...
•Never compare my baby to a runt.
•When you come into the NICU to visit my baby, focus only on my baby...don't peer at anyone else's baby. Privacy is nonexistent in the NICU, so we parents and visitors have to respect others' right to privacy and keep our eyes and ears on our own babies only.
•Ask me questions! There's a lot about preemie care and NICU life that people don't understand, not to mention questions about my baby's condition. Don't be afraid to ask me...most of the time I am willing to answer and explain because talking about it helps me understand it too, and if you understand more then you can be more supportive.
•Even if you had a preemie 10, 20 or 50 years ago, doesn't mean that advice hasn't changed about how to take care of preemies. My step mother kept hers in an oven and chain smoked, according to her. She was offended when I wouldn't let my son over to her smoke filled house.
•Also if I am crying it isn't Post Partum Depression, it's because all my hopes and dreams for a healthy pregnancy, vaginal delivery and healthy baby have blown up. I don't need medication, I need support!
•That said, mommies of Preemies/Nicu babies are at high risk for Post Partum Depression. Please keep an eye on me, without smothering me, and help me get needed support and treatment if PPD does hit me.
•If you made an appointment to visit, please be on time. I may have scheduled a pumping session around your visit, and your being late will mess this up and I could end up engorged and in pain.
•Ignore the tubes and wires and tell me he is beautiful. Because he is.
Illness/germs/After Nicu
•Please let me know if you are sick. If I get sick, I can't see my baby, so I don't want to risk it. If you are sick at all, please do not come and see my baby.
•Please don't tell me I'm being an overprotective first time mom when I won't let you hold baby or bring baby to your party, we spent months in the hospital, and are not eager to return.
•Please don't tell me I'm being ridiculous when I'm fastidious about hand washing and keeping sick people away from my baby, RSV kills little babies like mine.
•I wish that people would respect that just because he is home doesn't mean he is like every other baby.
•We chose not to do the RSV shots (don't flame me) and kept secluded and made everyone who did come swear they were well and wash with soap water and Purell if they came in. Baby was only "family held" for a year as well. But still one "friend" came to bring a meal and walked in with 3 sniveling clearly sick with cold kids into my living room. I retreated to the upstairs and had my husband get her out quickly. Didn't eat the food either! I should have known. This same UA violation of a friend came to my daughter's funeral with her kids in flip-flops and shorts and t-shirts. I was stunned the unfunny joke in the family now is that she said 'hey kids lets stop at a funeral on the way to the pool!' I really can barely talk to her any more.
•Don't tell me how you can't believe how sick my preemies get. Just because you had a child at 36 weeks and/or you know other preemies that don't get sick doesn't mean mine don't get sick. We've battled more then our share of colds and illnesses and to be told we must be making it up because no one else's kids get sick as often as mine is an insult.
•Don't tell me how lucky I am that my babies will take a bottle and pacifier.
•Just because they are now 11 and 12 pounds doesn't mean they are immunologically as strong as term babies at that size.
•Don't even think about touching my babies without using antibacterial hand sanitizer... even if you think it contributes to allergies in our society. My babies are in the middle of RSV season!
•Don't expect to hold a baby when you come over (especially soon after they came home). I may not want them out of my arms.
Emotional Support
•Please don't preach to me. If you have not been here as the mother of a sick baby, you don't know anything about this.
•Please don't "should" on me. I'm doing my best. Please don't tell me how I "should" feel, react, behave. Please don't tell me I "should" live at the NICU, or judge me for staying at the hospital all the time.
•Please understand that while my baby is in the hospital that is where my focus is. Please don't expect me to come to social activities. This is very important when I'm on bed rest.
•Please don't give me parenting advice. I'm not really parenting my baby anyway; I'm doing what the hospital allows. I probably don't have the emotional energy to fight hospital policy.
•I'm still a new mom. I'm hormonal. Please be kind to me, and give me lots of breaks for any bad behavior.
•I'm tired. Please don't say "be glad your baby is in the hospital" or anything like that. I am not sleeping well; I'm either up pumping or worried for my baby.
•Please don't ask what I did to cause this.
•Please don't ask questions I can't answer, like will my baby ever be "normal".
•Please ask how I am, I may need a shoulder.
•Don't back away when I cry, it is very emotional to have a baby sick.
•Please don't casually ask "How's the baby doing?" Even a year later... there won't be a short answer unless I'm blowing you off and I hate to feel rude. If you really want to know then I'll usually be happy to share.
•My friends and family were very supportive when we were in the NICU, my mother in law would listen and ask questions. My mom would ask me how is was doing. These two women who like to tell me how it is, took a step back and listened. It was nice.
•PLEASE don't try to tell me that you understand, because unless your child/baby is sick, you truly, honestly DON'T.
•Please don't tell me how you know of this other preemie who's now 18 and 6 feet tall and completely healthy.
•Please don't tell me about another smaller, younger baby who is 'just fine' because every baby is different, has had different circumstances in utero, and frankly, isn't my baby.
•Please don't say clichéd phrases like, "if it was meant to be...", no baby is meant to be born early and sick.
•Please don't tell me "at least you've had this much time with him/her", when my baby's health has been going downhill.
•Please don't tell me a story about your friend's cousin who had a baby so much smaller than mine and tell me what a "good size" my daughter is and how she will be okay. Four pounds isn't a good size to me, it is scary.
•Thank you for the congratulations but please don't pretend that everything is wonderful right now and I should be a glowing new mother.
•It is not easier to be a new parent to a preemie because I'm "resting and letting someone else take care of her." I want to be taking care of her. Waking up every three hours to pump is not restful, and it is much, much harder than waking up next to your sweet newborn baby.
•I'm not "over it" and I might not ever be. Try not to be awkward, change the subject, or roll your eyes if I still get emotional about my daughter's birth and NICU experience 2 years later.
•Please understand that my 3 year-old may not know how she feels, might not be nice to you right now, or talk to you at all, and will not be able to answer the question about how it feels to be a big sister.
•Don't ask when I'm having more children, or if I will try for a boy, or nod knowingly and say 'It is probably for the best" if I say we are done having children.
•Don't disappear off the face of the planet after my baby is born. If you are scared of the hospital, tell me. If you don't know how to deal with me in a fragile state, let me know it is tough for you. But walking away completely...makes me feel that you were never my friend, especially if you try to come back into my life after 6 months of not talking to me.
•Don't give me a hard time because I didn't tell you details about whatever was happening. It was hard enough for me to understand and discuss w my dh.
•Unless you have also spent 12 plus weeks in the nicu or picu with your child. Do not tell me what I should do, what I should have done, how I should act or what I should tell you. If you're hurt because I didn't give you details or blew you off, I have the rest of my life to listen to you and I may not have had that time with my child.
•On the second point, (we were only there 6 weeks), but I want to stress that this goes for mothers, sisters, nurses, social workers. If you have not been there done that, you do not understand. Don't say you do. This applies to the mom of the mom, and MIL too. (Both my mom and MIL had problems with how I "did" the NICU and I had to deal with them as well as a NICU baby.) Very well said!
•Please don't compare my baby to other preemies you have known. Maybe I'm the only one but even the positive stories bugged me because I wasn't sure my son was going to be one of them.
•Not me, I loved every single happy story. We have a cousin who was a 29 week preemie miracle over 40 years ago (guess what the nuns did - kangaroo cared him-moms weren't allowed to hold, just nurse/nuns). I told him he was Kalleigh's role model in the family.
•Don't keep pestering me for answers. Don't say- But you said she was doing good. Guess what, that all can change in a second which is why they call it an emotional roller coaster.
•I don't have the time or emotional energy to deal with your drama. Please keep it to yourself.
Gifts/ Physical needs/Cards
•Don't ask me what I need. I don't know what I need. Give me some suggestions if you want to help. Like "Can I take your laundry home and bring it back?" "Can I come load your dishwasher and wash the pans?" Can I clean out your car?"
•Please congratulate me on my new baby. Please do not act like my baby is dead. Please do not send "thinking of you" or condolence cards. Please send me a congratulations on your new baby card.
•Please bring over food and offer to baby-sit my older children. I have two neighbors who babysat my 2 year old often and this was just the best gift I received.
•Please feed me, even if I say I am not hungry - just leave the food where I can get to it.
•On the food thing, most homes need milk, bread, toilet paper, and laundry soap on a regular basis. If you want to help but don't know what to do, purchase a regularly used household item and drop it by.
•Bringing over dinner, without asking, was a gesture so sweet it brought me to tears.
•Baby gifts, even when my child is in the hospital, are wonderful and give me joy and something to look forward to watching her grow into (and I'm sorry if the thank you notes are late).
•Do bring to my house a hot dinner or something you know I love to eat.
•Do drop off a care package of tabloid magazines, anything you know I like to read or something I like to do to pass time. Pumping rooms are so lonely and need something to read. Besides, the nurses also like tabloids and it takes the edge off sometimes.
•Do offer to clean my house, laundry, dishes, take my children or pay the sitter for me.
•Do give me the cutest preemie outfit you ever saw and say you saw it and thought of my baby.
•Do give me a mama brag book so I can put the babies pics in there to show people.
•Offer to bring me lunch at the hospital while I'm there with my baby, don't expect conversation, but if I seem to need to talk about it, let me even if you've heard it already.
•Please give me granola or health food bars, food I can sneak and eat in the NICU.
•Candy is welcome as well. If you give me wrapped candy, I can pass this on to the nurses.
•I'd love a nice soft shawl or sweater, something small, but easy to remove. It gets very cold in the NICU sometimes.
•It is dry in the NICU, so a nice lip balm or lotion would be nice. Please go easy on any scented products, as one of the ways my baby is comforted is by my scent, and strong perfumes irritate little tiny noses.
•One of the kindest gifts I received was a tabloid left on my office chair with a post-it on it saying, I know you love these, in an ashamed way. It was so very thoughtful. There is only so long you can stare at your baby sleep in an isolette before you get very bored. That gift led to an actually fun discussion with the nurses about is baby Suri real.
•I welcome any offers of watching my older child so my husband and I can be in the NICU with the baby!
•Don't send me a sympathy card, thoughts and prayers cards and don't give me the standard BS answer "If there is anything I can do for you, call me." Send me a blue or pink card and say I am thinking of you and your beautiful baby.
•Do stuff that you know I need or want done. I still need a gallon of milk, eggs, stuff for dd1, etc. All the stuff you pick up at the grocery, we need too. If you want to drop it off, please do!
•Don't tell me, what does your dh or you have to visit EVERYDAY? Well yes, its our child and we will and we don't need to actually answer that...
•If you just found out and you're an acquaintance from church, school etc don't drill me how horrible it is. This happened to me- a couple who went thru out baptism class called me one afternoon as I just walked in. And was going on and on how horrible it was for us. I was on a high for doing Kangaroo care that week for the first time and this weirdo was telling me how "awful and horrible what happened to us". After a minute, I cut her off and said can you call me another time???
Pictures
•Don't pester me to see photos of my baby in the NICU. She is naked and in pain and it hurts her dignity to be stared at and gawked over.
•For me, it was please tolerate me as I email out tons of pictures, accost almost everyone with pictures, ask you to watch videos on the tiny screen on my camcorder, and talk endlessly about my baby. My DD had a diaper on, and was not in pain, just tiny, so this is one of those we are all different things. I loved sharing pictures.
Nursing/Pumping/Breast Feeding/Formula Feeding/Feeding challenges
•Please don't judge me if nursing is not going well. I'm trying. It is very hard to pump. My time is so tight, and pumping is just one more time and emotional demand on me. If I ask for help, please give it. Please don't judge me if I cannot keep up nursing. It is emotionally draining. I'm tired.
•If I ask for help with pumping/nursing and you know the answer, please help me. If you don't than say so. Please don't guess and give me bad advice.
•Please don't talk about how easy it was for you to breastfeed and pump. I tried the best I could; it simply didn't work out for us.
•Don't ask me how I intend to feed that teeny baby with my chest...don't I smother her?? (i.e. for those who can't figure it out, Adara was small, my chest was...is...rather large) (oh I HATED this one - probably because I was terrified of it already!!)
•Also if you are coming during a feeding or an attempt at breast feeding, your visit comes second to my child's schedule.
Suggestions for Medical Providers
•For nurses, especially those who have never had a baby of their own in the NICU and ESPECIALLY for those who don't have children; please remember that although this is your job and you've been trained to care for the specific issues of our children, these are OUR babies and we do have some sense of how to care for and comfort them even if they're very small and fragile.
•For NICU staff, please encourage and empower parents to research and be involved at their own comfort level. It seems too easy for the staff to "just do their jobs" and forget that this is a life changing, traumatic event that involves a mommy, daddy and their baby. (We were told that ds wouldn't do well with the stimulation of touch, at 30 weeks, so of course we didn't want to touch him and negatively affect him. It was over two weeks before I held him because no one told me that it would be okay and I was still too stunned at that point to know any better).
•For NICU staff, occasionally check out recent research in neonatology. The internet is an easy place to find it. It's frustrating as a parent to continually confront "outdated" information with nurses and other staff.
•Never tell me I caused a brady/ desat/ low temperature. Help me touch my baby and manage her over stimulation issues.
•Let me do what I can. Teach me to do what I can, but need to learn. I can change diapers, bathe the baby, change the bedding, take temperature, etc. Please help empower me to be involved with my baby.