Meet NICU Graduate Baby Nathaniel | Boise NICU Baby Photography

This sweetie was born at 32 weeks gestation and stayed in the NICU for 30 days. He didn't suffer any major complications, but he did have a feeding tube. He has to wear a helmet for a flat spot on the back of his head, but he took it off just for me.

Mama experienced spontaneous preterm labor, with her water breaking at 30 weeks. At the hospital, they gave her a steroid shot to speed up baby's lung development and more medicine to stop labor. She was able to keep him in for a little over a week before going into labor again and having to have an emergency C-section.

They also have a 4 year old at home and the father had to go back to work right away. So Grandma came out to care for the older sibling while Mama was in the hospital. After Mama was discharged from the hospital, Grandma took the older sibling back to her house in California. So poor Mama not only had to leave her newborn baby in the NICU, but she had to be separated from her 4 year old Luckily, the 4 year old had a fun time with Grandma!

When talking about the hardest part of her NICU journey, she mentioned how difficult it was to leave her baby at the hospital. This is one of the most heart-wrenching parts about being a NICU mom. Not only have you suddenly become two instead of one, but you are deprived of the physical closeness when you have to go home and rest. Balancing your own recovery with the fierce desire to be with and to try to care for your baby is an incredible feat.

She mentioned that one of the things that really helped her out was finding the @dearnicumama podcast and listening to that.