Kansas City Moms Blog: What a NICU Mama Needs

by Julie Heckman

Whether it’s planned or completely unexpected, when your baby is in the NICU, life just gets overwhelming. I hope that no one ever has to go through having a baby in the NICU but if you do (or have friends or family who do), here are some tips to help.

For Mamas:

• Designate someone to field calls, texts, inquiries and people volunteering to do things for you. We are so lucky to have so many caring people in our lives but trying to communicate with all of our family, church, work and other friends was just not possible. We posted on Facebook occasionally but ran everything through my sister who coordinated messages to friends about what was happening and consolidated questions so we weren’t overwhelmed.
• It’s OK to say no to visitors. At Children’s Mercy, only two adults can be in the NICU pods at a time so visitors meant that either my husband or I had to leave our baby. For us, only our parents and older kids visited while he was there. And our friends understood.

Read more of Julie's tips for moms and suggestions for family and friends via Kansas City Moms Blog.

Learn more about the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children's Mercy, the highest-level NICU in the region.