I'm lucky to be able to work with someone as dedicated to her job and to the families and babies in the NICU as the Utah Chapter's NICU Family Support Specialist, Rachel. Rachel personally lived through the NICU experience, and hearing her share the story of her premature twins is incredible. Now, she works tirelessly as an advocate for preemies and for families to help them through their stay in the NICU. She is at the hospital with these families everyday, at the babies' bedsides, getting to know every single one of them and helping them with whatever they need, from the mundane (snacks and magazines, anyone?) to the more significant ins and outs of intensive care for newborns, like life-threatening medical crises and bereavement. Rachel is the heart and soul of the March of Dimes; every dollar we raise is a dollar closer to ensure her program continues getting funded and these teeny tiny babies continue to benefit from research for their little hearts, brains, and lungs.
Read more info on this program at the NICU Family Support website! You can also check out the March of Dimes Share Your Story online community and NICU Families website.
I know of at least five babies in our extended family team that stayed in the NICU, two of which (the twins!) I'm going to talk about in the next post. What's interesting about our little group of NICU babies is not all of them were born prematurely - some needed the specialized care because of infections or life-threatening complications. Team Bambini is walking for all those babies, in memory of babies that have passed away, for babies born with special needs or birth defects, and in celebration of the babies born healthy! Thanks for joining us!
(All images courtesy of the March of Dimes)
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