Emma Adams

I am a mum of two, a wife, a daughter, a social worker and an avid reader. These are the some of the labels that make up the person that I am but I never expected to add the labels of a NICU/ micro preemie parent. Owen, my first child was a normal pregnancy and birth. So it was a complete surprise when Betty arrived 16 weeks early at 24 + 2 weeks.

This was the beginning of a 17-week NICU inpatient stay for Betty including multiple complex procedures, all types of breathing supports and coming home on oxygen. It is was an incredibly intense and surreal experience to live through the set up backs and complications, very few small moments of joy , missing the normal milestones and never knowing what you would walk into each day in the ward. Even more so when you feel like you are not being able to celebrate the arrival of your baby. The whole experience was all so isolating.

I remember wishing that I needed someone who understood, who I didn’t have to explain the medical terms too, or support them through the my situation . What I wish now is to be able to be that voice, that shoulder, the person who has been there before to support another parent the way I wished I had been. I want to be able to use the many labels that make up who I am to advocate, champion and help improve the process for families in the future who experience the NICU and life beyond it.