Life Is Funny, Ain't It?
Meet Cristina! Cristina messaged me in a panic a few weeks ago. She had just had her precious baby boy, and her photographer had to quarantine due to COVID19. She was recommended to me, and luckily, I was able to capture their first moments with baby boy. Cristina is a NICU nurse at The Hospital of Central Connecticut. She stated out as an RN in 2013, but told me she had always wanted to work with higher risk NICU babies. She has been at the Hospital of Central Connecticut’s NICU since 2014. She has met a bunch of families who she still keeps in touch with today!
Anyhow, when I got to Cristina’s house I quickly realized that this was not our first time meeting! Cristina worked at the New Britain NICU when my sweet first born, Giada, was born. For those of you who don’t know, my Giada was born at 32 weeks gestation. I was diagnosed with severe preeclampsia at 30.5 weeks, and placed in the hospital on magnesium. My blood pressure was 203/100! (Crazy right?!)
Anyway, Giada was born on Oct 16 2015 and placed in the NICU in New Britain, CT. I didn’t get to see her for 36 hours after her birth. We ended up spending five VERY long weeks living at the hospital in the NICU. By living, I mean, I literally moved into a room across the hall, and didn’t go home at all except to shower. My husband went up every day at lunchtime so I could nap and pump.
When I speak of the NICU, to this day, I have nothing but the utmost gratitude and respect for everyone who works there. I still know every nurses name that assisted in caring for Giada. The five weeks we spent there were probably the longest five week of my entire life to date. Though it’s all a foggy blur now, going through the motions every day, was painful and exhausting. Every day was a constant battle of watching the monitors and praying that she didn’t have any oxygen or heart rate dips… because I knew, if she did, we couldn’t go home the next day. I learned how to be a mom in that NICU. The nurses helped me learn how to pump, how to feed Giada properly, how to change/bathe her. They held me when I sobbed because my 3lb baby was attached to 9 different cords and I couldn’t walk around with her for more than a 3 foot space. They allowed me the option to stay across the hall because I didn’t physically think I could leave her there and go home. They let me use their fax machine when I needed to get FMLA paperwork to my job. They let my husbands grandparents see Giada through the windows.
Full circle: Cristina was a night-nurse at this time, and makes all sort of adorable crafts for the babies incubators and cribs. Would you know I still have the crafts she made for Giada when she was in the NICU on Halloween of 2015? Life is funny, isn’t it?
Please look at these gorgeous pictures of sweet Cristina’s first baby boy. I am so so happy for her!!!!
