We have been totally overwhelmed by the outpouring of love + support that has come our way since sharing the details of our high-risk pregnancy journey. It is amazing to know we have such an incredible support system ready to rally around us, no matter the future brings. We’ve also discovered an entire community of parents that have been through similar situations that are helping to ease our anxiety a bit. Thank you for all the continued prayers…we will take any you can spare!!

Jeff + I had our last appointment at Children’s Hospital to discuss the specifics of the delivery and what would happen immediately afterwards. We were told that baby will spend at least the first few days in the NICU. There’s a few different reasons for this… first and foremost, it’s precautionary. Since this has been a high-risk pregnancy, they want to take every precaution necessary.

Secondly, there is currently a temporary policy change during a new nursing training program. My due date happens to fall right in the middle of this training, which means all babies go to the NICU instead of rooming in with mom. It was a disappointing curveball but just one more thing that we are trying to roll with.

The last reason that baby will most likely end up in the NICU is for testing. We know for sure that the team of specialists will be keeping a close eye and there are a variety of tests that need to be done around the 48-hour mark. Depending on what those tests tell us, we’ll develop the rest of the game plan from there.

Currently, we are trying not to plan too far in advance. We need to be flexible and take things one day at a time, especially once baby arrives. We won’t know anything definitive for at least 48 hours, and then other tests will take about 7-10 days to get back. During that time, we just need to trust the amazing teams of doctors + NICU nurses to take care of our little one.

While I’m in these last few days waiting for labor to start, I’ve been packing and re-packing our hospital bags. Any #NICUmom tips I should know or special things to pack? Any advice is greatly appreciated at this point because we have no idea what to expect.

As always, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the continued prayers + support. It means more than you’ll ever know.