Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through the Unexpected

NICU Rise Series Mom guilt doesn’t start when you leave the NICU… and it doesn’t end when your baby comes home. In this deeply honest episode, we talk about the many layers of guilt medical moms carry — from not bonding the way you imagined, to pumping exhaustion, comparison, medical decisions, identity shifts, and the quiet guilt of just wanting the hard season to end. If you’ve ever wondered, “A...

NICU Rise Series When your baby is in the NICU, suddenly there are a dozen specialists involved in their care. Neonatology. Cardiology. Neurology. Gastroenterology. Ophthalmology. Genetics. It can feel overwhelming fast. In this episode of Holyoaks Rise, NICU nurse Amanda Holyoak walks families through the many All the Ologies™ involved in caring for babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and...

NICU Rise Series What should you expect in the NICU? What actually happens in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)? And what does a typical NICU day really look like? If your baby has just been admitted to the NICU — or you’re preparing for a possible NICU stay — this episode walks you through what to expect from the first 24 hours to the daily rhythm of care. As a NICU nurse and a medical mom,...

NICU Rise Series When your baby is in the NICU, some fears never fully leave your mind. Will my baby have long-term problems? What will life after the NICU look like? Will they meet their milestones? Will our family ever feel normal again? Even after survival feels certain, many parents enter a new season of fear—the fear of the unknown. In this episode of Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through...

I met “Busy Bee” as her NICU nurse. At the time, I had no idea I was meeting my future daughter. In this episode of Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through the Unexpected, I share the journey from NICU nurse to foster parent to adoptive mother. What began as caring for a premature baby in the NICU became a life-changing story of foster care, adoption, medical motherhood, and learning to navigate...

Sometimes the signs are quiet before they are loud. Sometimes the story begins long before we know what we’re looking at. In this episode of Holyoaks Rise: Stories of Rising Through the Unexpected, I share our daughter’s journey with pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), liver disease, and the long road to finding answers. What began as seemingly unrelated symptoms eventually led us through...

In this first episode of Holyoaks Rise, I share my journey from NICU nurse to medical mom. From navigating my daughter’s NICU stay to managing a chronic pediatric GI condition with my older child, I found myself experiencing healthcare from both sides of the hospital crib. This episode is for parents navigating medical complexity, pediatric chronic illness, special needs parenting, and the uncerta...