By Meredith Ganzman
The NICU can be a scary place for newborns and their caregivers. But these five stories of adorable babies defying the odds will make your heart burst.
These NICU babies were anything but scary for their first Halloween. The little ones at the Advocate Children's Hospital dressed as different characters, ranging from a tiny Star Wars Jedi to an sweet pumpkin. It’s all about trying to make theses new patients’ hospital stay as easy as possible for them and their families.
And to warm up the NICU, nurses at SwedishAmerican Hospital in Illinois threw a luau party for the babies. They wore bathing suits, and even had palm trees, beach balls and buckets of sand for the perfect staycation. Parents say it made the hospital a little sunnier.
Meet Grandma Cuddles. She’s 81-year-old Joan Hart. Joan volunteers to cuddle newborns in the NICU. She pats their backs, holds their tiny hands and is always there for a baby in need of some soothing. She says she’s probably held more than a 1,000 babies in the last nine years she’s been with NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.
Little Rosalie came into the world very early and far from home. She was born when North Carolina mom Shelcie Holbert was just six-months-pregnant and on a business trip to New York City. She only weighed 1-pound, 9-ounce at delivery.But some local moms rushed in to help. They provided Shelcie clothes and even housing during her three month stay in the city, before the new family went home.
And this newborn is also off to a good start, after graduating from the the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Alabama. The then 22-week-old even has a cap and gown and definitely has a degree in cuteness.
We can’t wait to see how these little ones continue to grow and go on to do great things.