Our lives were forever changed when we welcomed our first child into the world. Being first time parents, we were filled with anticipation of seeing our little girl for the first time. We imagined what it would be like to hold her and were excited to see who she resembled more. Little did we know that that time would come sooner than we expected. Born 16 weeks early, at 12 inches long and only 1.51 lbs, our world turned upside down as we were not prepared for the road that lay ahead. Instantly, we were filled with fear, as no one could say for certain what the outcome would be or what challenges our daughter was about to face. We immediately had to prepare ourselves for the worst, while we prayed endlessly for the best. We were in shock. Finding it difficult to believe that she was already here. When we saw our little girl for the first time in the NICU our hearts sank seeing our little baby attached to all the monitors. Each one making a different sound and reading different numbers and we had no idea what any of it meant.
I was overwhelmed with sadness and fear as I realized I would have to leave my baby here and would not be able to get wheeled down with my baby in my arms and a smile on my face like the other moms who were getting ready to take their little ones home.
For the next three and a half months West Allis NICU would become my new home. In the days that followed we met so many wonderful people from the NICU staff. Everyone we met did a wonderful job in making our family feel welcomed and supported. It wasn't long before we started understanding what all those monitors, numbers and sounds all meant. They taught us how to care for our little girl so we could bond with her and that allowed us to be helpful in a situation where we often found ourselves feeling helpless.
I wanted to make sure to recognize Lori Pedersen, who went above and beyond for us during this difficult time. As a parent, there are a lot of moments you want to capture and memories you want to create with your baby. That is not always easy to do when your baby is in a NICU. But, Lori helped us capture these precious moments and milestones with our baby girl, such as holidays, first bath, monthly milestones and family pictures. By helping us create these memories she gave us something to look forward to and we will forever cherish these precious moments she helped us create. We would like to thank Nurse Pedersen from the bottom of our hearts for bringing us comfort and a sense of normalcy during a difficult time in our lives.