Many of you know that our second born, Happy Baby, had a pretty rough beginning to his life.
We ended up being in the NICU for almost 100 days! It was a roller coaster of a season, to say the least.
Ever since then, my heart has become easily burdened for any other mom I know who has been given a similar path to walk.
A friend of mine from high school, Ally, emailed me several months ago asking for prayer for her unborn baby, Jaxson. Halfway through her pregnancy they discovered that he had Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, which, for him, meant that most of the organs on the left side of his body were formed in his chest cavity. They were told he would face immediate surgeries upon birth, as well as future surgeries, possible breathing issues, and, obviously, a long NICU stay.
Fast forward and Jaxson is here! But there are still so many challenges and they have already been in the NICU for 2 months.
Wanting to help, I instantly thought of the hundreds of people who made an effort to bless our little family during our NICU stay. The cards, calls, texts, goodies, food (you can read all about it HERE) – were all a reminder of God’s love and presence. Every single kind act, word, or prayer was felt and carried us through the most difficult days.
I knew I needed to send something to Ally to lift her up and comfort her with the sweet knowledge that she isn’t alone.
So I headed to Target and put together a small Survival Kit for her to use while we pray them to Jaxson’s homecoming!
Here is what I put in the NICU Mama’s Survival Kit…
1. Lip Gloss – Just because lip gloss is necessary for all women, at any time.
2. Hand Lotion – NICU parents have to ‘scrub in’ every time they step foot in the NICU facility. This requires at least 3 minutes of scrubbing, using an extremely harsh soap and brush. If you visit your baby several times a day, for several months, this equals seriously DRY HANDS.
3. Tissues – For the extra hard days.
4. Hand Sanitizer – Keeping the germs at bay. NO NICU mama can afford to be sick herself and miss out on visits and snuggles with her little buddy.
5. Target Gift Card – Besides Jesus, Target just knows how to feed my soul – lol. Go get your therapy on, Ally – you deserve it!
6-7. Post-Its and Pen – NICU mamas (and all mamas, really) need to stay in God’s Word AT ALL TIMES. There are a lot of voices in the NICU – doctors, nurses, other parents, the enemy – that sometimes, if we’re not careful, we can let those voices drown out the One voice we really need to hear. These Post-Its are for Ally to jot down her favorite Scriptures and post all over Jaxson’s room to cover him and their situation with TRUTH.
8. Essie Nail Polish – Best thing about this nail polish is its name. Are you ready? ETERNAL OPTIMIST. Because this is something all NICU mamas need to be.
9. Healthy Snacks – NICU mamas are exhausted and often their own needs get shoved to the very bottom of the pile. Having something healthy and satisfying on hand will give Ally the energy she needs to keep loving and serving her little man.
Throw everything in a small, travel-ready bag, and NICU mamas have everything they need to tackle another day of fighting for LIFE.
I can’t think of a greater mission, Amen?!
Would y’all please join me in praying for baby Jaxson and his sweet parents?
And if you happen to know any NICU mamas in the trenches right now, I encourage you to pray about finding a way to support them on their journey.
Happy NICU Mama Survival Kit-ing! 🙂
Hi there!!!
You are so funny and thoughtful, and I really enjoy your blog! I also understand how hard it can be to be successful at it (you are further along than I am with my blog, before3pm.com). You are more of a veteran than I am, but I noticed that I can always read your entire post in my email instead of being required to click through to your actual blog. I am guessing that if others are doing this like me, your blog is not getting as high of page views as it could. In WordPress there is a little icon for the “read more” prompt that you can insert after you have “hooked” the reader into wanting to read the entire post.
Anyway, I thought that might help you out! Thanks for all of your uplifting posts!!
-Rachel
Hey Rachel! I have aLWAYS wanted to do that but I don’t know how to find that icon! LOL! I am on WordPress.com, not WordPress.org, so there are often a lot less options for me than if I were on a self-hosted site… I would love your advice if you have some! THANK YOU!
I have followed Your blog for a couple of years and just love all that you do! I especially LOVE this nicu survival kit! What a great encouragement to your friend! I’m the founder of a nicu organization called the Footprints ministry. You can see a video on our ministry
and also see more information on what we do at http://www.footprintsministry.info as well as on our Facebook and Instagram pages! Please let us know if we can do anything for your friend. We will be praying for baby Jaxson.
In His Grace,
Kim Wilson
A disposable camera would be a definite plus as well as it could be left bedside to catch any precious moments.
I would really like to know the best way to help to do this for any family? Do I just make it up and take it to the hospital? How did you go about doing it? You are amazing.
Thank you so much for this great suggestion. Our daughter and son-in-law had their 3rd baby 5 1/2 weeks early so she (baby) is in the NICU while she continues to grow stronger. They live 2 1/2 hours away from where baby was born, so not only is the new baby in .NICU, but mom and baby are away from the rest of the family. So thankful my husband and I live close to the hospital so our daughter can be staying with us through this time. I have been searching for ways to be an encouragement to her, and also find things I can do with her other 2 children when they come to stay with us for a couple of weeks. You have given me a great idea – shopping with the kids to put together this Survival Kit for their mama – we’ll add a kit for their new little sister too that they can pick out their choice of items. God has been so evidently present throughout this entire time! He is faithful and .He is good. So thankful that when we lean on Him for strength, He never disappoints and always provides just what is needed. Thanks again for your site and suggestions.
Debbie, thank you so much for this precious and life-giving comment. Praying for your family! Your daughter is so blessed to have you.
Have a staff that just got admitted to hospital on 5-16-18. Due date is 7-1-19, and they are hoping to induce in 10 days…but may need to induce earlier because of her blood pressure. She will remain in hospital until delivery on a low carb/no sugar diet. (She lost her first baby at 7 months). Can you do some kind of gift basket? low carb/healthy snacks. books/puzzles/things to do? Thoughts? Thanks!