
A Picture is Worth More Than a Thousand Words
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to provide emotional support to many mothers whose babies were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). As a NICU nurse, I would recite the same comforting words to each mother as she was discharged and forced to leave the hospital without her newborn. It was not until I had to leave my 28-week son, Theo, in the NICU that I fully understood the trauma of being physically separated from him. I was just starting to mentally and physically comprehend that I was no longer pregnant when I was discharged home on his sixth day of life. As I was wheeled through the lobby to go home, I sobbed as I held my empty, tender belly, longing to feel his gentle kicks again. Leaving the hospital without him was the most unnatural, painful, and confusing experience I have ever endured.