01/09/2026
September is NICU awareness month. I’ve shared this post before but it’s the best way to sum up having a baby born so very early and spending our first 3 months of parenthood in a NICU ward.
Whenever we talk about about Dotties arrival with people both new and those who went through this journey with us. We do just talk about it as if it was a normal thing. Even though we know it wasn’t, it’s just how it comes out. Not sure if we do it to protect ourselves or to protect who we are talking to. If we talk about it casually then maybe it won’t feel so huge. But no, humans don’t work like that and we always get a shocked face, disbelief, sympathetic look or just stunned awe. Which is fair. It was ALOT and what other reaction could you have.
Dottie was born at 25 weeks and 2 days. 15 weeks early, I hadn’t even really started to show. A tiny little 845grams full of love, hope and bags of sass. We didn’t know if she’d make it home or if she did what her and our life would be like. We somehow coped with all the set backs, highs, lows and everything in between.
Persobally I think the more we talk about it then there’s more premature and NICU stories out there for someone going through it to find. If we didn’t talk about it then what happens if they or someone they know becomes one of the 1 in 7 that needs a NICU. They need to know it’s ok and that journey is just that- a journey, no matter how hard, beautiful, challenging, awe inspiring and heartbreaking it is. Being a parent is hard and isolating enough let alone having to go through a NICU ward to get there.
So if this has been you just casually dropping your NICU trauma like it’s a random Tuesday, then please know we are most definitely your people and our DMs and hearts are always open if you need it 💕 The NICU club wasn’t one we ever knew existed and one we certainly didn’t want to join but it’s a community filled with so much love and people who just get it and feel every bit of what your going through.
