31 for 31 Fundraising Run
OurStory is a series of posts about the real life experiences of NICU families.
"I’ll never forget one of the scariest moments of my life. I was 31 weeks pregnant, and the doctor said, 'you are delivering this baby right now.' As the doctors and nurses rushed in, I wondered if our baby was strong enough. Through all the uncertainty, the hospital staff were kind, calm and caring. God gave me an unexplainable peace that told me she was going to be okay. I believe with all my heart that He placed me in that hospital with that staff and they would take good care of her.
Evie was born at 31 weeks gestation; she was only 3 pounds and 4 ounces. I didn’t even have a chance to hold her before she was whisked away to the NICU. When my husband and I saw her with tubes and monitors, it was unnerving, but she was alive! And she was beautiful.
Evie spent five weeks in the NICU and the nurses handled her with such care as they gently placed her in my arms each day. They were encouraging to me when I was having difficulty producing milk since Evie wasn’t strong enough to nurse. She began her life being nourished through an NG tube. The nurses decorated a cute little sign for her isolette. For five weeks, I went home every night without my baby, and came back the next day. As difficult as this was, I also felt assured that she was in good hands with the staff at Garnet Health NICU. I am so grateful to all of the NICU staff for caring for our daughter and making our experience the best that it could be."
-Angela Anderson
They immediately took her away to begin checking her and running tests. At this point, I haven’t held her, heck I hadn’t even seen my daughters face yet. But she was here!
They finally brought Elizabeth over to me so that I could hold my baby girl for the first time. And I did. All the loses, all the hopes and dreams we had, it was all right there in this tiny bundle of perfection. I had never felt so much love and emotion in one moment in my entire life. It was everything. Suddenly, she turned grey and stopped breathing. They ripped her out of my arms to try to save her. In that moment, we thought we lost our baby girl. We almost did.
Thanks to the incredible team of doctors and nurses at Seton Medical Center, we did not lose her. She was immediately moved upstairs into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where she would spend the first month of her life literally fighting for her life.
I’m not going to go into all the details, but our daughter is a FIGHTER. She is my superhero.
Elizabeth is still on her own unique journey. She fought to be here, she is here for a reason, she will change the world one day. Lord knows she has changed ours."
-Ashlee Barrett
"I don’t know what I expected when I went into labor with Elizabeth. I was almost four weeks away from my due date and I was so insistent that I was not in labor that I refused to even acknowledge the pain I was in for almost twelve hours. I’m not sure if I was scared to be in labor early, or to just be in labor, or if it was the fear of losing another baby.
Greg finally convinced me to go to the hospital. Things seemed to be going fine [until] her heart rate kept dropping and they needed to get her out. If I didn’t get her out then we would need to do an emergency C-section. One push and the help of forceps, she was here. Our beautiful baby girl let out a cry and our entire world changed in that moment.
Both births happened during the height of Covid, when uncertainty hung in the air heavier than anything I'd ever felt. Walking into St. Luke's Hospital in Newburgh, NY, I was scared, overwhelmed, and trying to hold myself together in a world where even a comforting smile was hidden behind a mask. But what I found inside the NICU was something I will never forget: a team of nurses, doctors, and staff who became our lifeline.When my first baby arrived at 32 weeks, everything felt like a blur. One minute I was being told I had to deliver early, and the next I was watching my tiny child--so impossibly small--surrounded by tubes, lights, and machines. I felt helpless, like my body had betrayed us both. But the NICU staff stepped in with a calm confidence that I desperately needed. They didn't just care for my baby--they cared for me. They explained every beep, every number, every step. They celebrated tiny victories with us, from the first successful feeding to the moment we could finally hold our baby against our chest.
When I found myself back in the NICU two years later with my second early arrival at 35 weeks, it still wasn't easy--but it was different. I walked in with the familiar knot in my stomach, but also with trust. I knew we were in the best possible hands. Even in the middle of a pandemic, when rules were strict and fear was everywhere, the staff found ways to make us feel seen, supported, and safe. They checked on me as much as they checked on my baby. They remembered details. They spoke softly when I cried. They treated our family like their own.
Covid could have made the NICU feel isolating, but instead it made every act of kindness even bigger. A nurse adjusting a blanket felt like love. A doctor sitting to answer every last question felt like hope. A staff member who remembered our names felt like connection in a world that had suddenly become distant.
I look back now with so much gratitude--not only for the survival and strength of my children, but for the people who carried us through the hardest, most fragile moments of our lives. The NICU at St. Luke's wasn't just a place where my babies grew strong enough to come home. It was a place where I grew too. Where I learned patience, courage, and the power of steady hands and compassionate hearts.
Those early weeks were some of the longest and most emotional of my life, but they were also filled with an extraordinary kind of faith--faith in medicine, faith in strangers, and faith in the tiny fighters I was lucky enough to call mine.
And because of the outstanding NICU staff at St. Luke's Hospital in Newburgh, NY, my children are here today. Healthy. Thriving. Home.
And I am forever grateful."
-Courtney Hank
A Mother's Perspective: Navigating the Birth of My Children at 32 and 35 Weeks During Covid
"I never imagined that becoming a mother would mean learning the sounds of monitors before lullabies, or that I'd know the layout of a NICU better than my own kitchen. But life has a way of reshaping us, especially when our babies decide to enter the world earlier than expected--first at 32 weeks, then again at 35.
However, the birth story I wrote and longed for is not the story that played out in real life. In our story, there was no hearing his precious cry, nor even seeing his face right after he was born. Following the delivery, he was immediately coded, intubated, placed on a ventilator, and swept away so the staff could continue to provide him with advanced-life saving care. I remember calling out to the nurse, as they took him away, to please take a picture so I can see him. So, I did not get to give him that very special embrace in my arms that I long anticipated giving him right after he was born, nor did I get to whisper to him that he was loved or get to introduce him to all those people who wanted to meet him in the hospital. But in my heart, I knew that he already felt that he was deeply loved...
While our new story began with a heartbreaking loss, I knew that our son was right where he needed to be. He was in the care of a hospital family compromised of neonatologists, doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, laboratory and radiology personnel and more; all whose expertise and care saved his life. We are also filled with thanks for all the behind-the-scenes NICU workers like the housekeeping team who not only kept the environment clean, but who also took the time to talk and genuinely care about us while we were hospitalized. We are thankful for the biomed workers that checked that lifesaving equipment was functioning properly for when our son needed it, for the assistants who met a myriad of needs, for the secretaries who made critical calls, and the administrators who are working hard to ensure the hospital serves the most vulnerable members of our community with expertise and the care they need.
The NICU and hospital staff, over 4 different hospitals, all cared for us during the first 10 weeks of his life. They walked through some of the hardest moments of our lives with deep compassion and support knowing the challenges that we would be facing in the future. It is truly a calling from God to work with babies and their parents. Thank you, David Anderson, for asking NICU parents and our community to come together to honor all the NICU workers and to let them know just how much they have touched our lives and how very much they are appreciated!"
-Anonymous
"Since I was a young girl, I dreamed about the day when I would become a mom! I would imagine what the moment would be like when he was born. Would I cry or smile in delight or both when I finally got to hear him cry and see his precious face looking back at me? But most of all, I longed for the moment when I would lift my arms up and be given the honor of holding my baby for the very first time…Because I knew that it would be in the embrace of my tender loving arms that he would, for the first time, not only feel but truly know, what being cherished and adored felt like. Then, in the moments that would follow, I would whisper to him that he is loved not only by his father and I, but by God who knit him together in my womb, by all his family, church family, and his friends who would be coming to visit him. To me, meeting my child for the first time would be one of the most precious moments this life affords- and I could not wait!
