September is NICU awareness month which makes a commitment to inspire hope and to honor families experiencing a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit and the health professionals who care for them. In line with this effort this week I am sharing Sarah Ward’s incredible story! Sarah has three children all of whom had a stay in the NICU. Her first birth of her twins found her being rushed to the hospital only two days after her baby shower. Her girls were whisked away from the operating room without her ever getting to hold them, or worse yet even see them - Heartbroken and confused by the realities of their situation the Wards plodded through until the girls were able to come home. When their son was born he was 37 weeks Sarah had high hopes of a more typical birth experience. She was able to hold her baby after giving birth to him and all seemed well until they took him for some tests and never brought him back. The trauma and disappointment came yet again and Sarah and her husband did their very best to make it through - Having survived all this, they wanted to give back somehow to the amazing NICU community and organizations that help NICU families, so they wrote a children’s book which we will tell you all about in the episode. The thing I find so beautiful about that is that when their girls had their stay Sarah’s husband loaded his arms with books from home and spent the days reading to the girls as a way to bond with them when they weren’t yet able to hold them. He also encouraged her to take a poem that she had written the girls as their birth story and turn it into a children’s book to bring hope to others going through what they had endured. You will be inspired by this raw honest conversation about their experiences!

Www.littlewardbooks.com 

*Theme Music “Blessed Time” by Ketsa