Dear NICU Mama

On this week's podcast episode, we have part one of team member Carrie’s journey with her daughter Hattie! Carrie is a full-term NICU mom to Hattie who spent 19 days in the NICU. Throughout Carrie’s pregnancy, Carrie worked alongside a doula and took hypnobirthing classes with the hope of having an all-natural birth. However once at the hospital, it was discovered that Hattie was breech and C...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! And this week’s podcast episode is a special roundtable episode all about mental health with co-hosts Ashley and Aisha, and team members Lexxa + Kamille! Throughout this episode they each share vulnerably about their own mental health journeys both in and out of the NICU, and how they have continued to prioritize their mental health throughout each motherhood...

It’s not uncommon for NICU mothers to experience a traumatic birth, and therefore also process the grief that comes after our births don’t go the way we had always dreamed. We wanted to have a conversation with an expert who specializes in healing after birth trauma, and we are honored to have Kayleigh Summers of The Birth Trauma Mama as our guest today! In this episode we cover: What is the defin...

Happy Mother’s Day, NICU mama! We know for many of us, holidays like Mother’s Day can be tender - especially if you are celebrating in the NICU. This week’s episode is a mini episode where co-hosts Aisha and Ashley and members of our sisterhood share how they celebrate and have celebrated Mother’s Day! We hope this episode is a reminder to celebrate in a way that honors your heat. This episode’s p...

On today’s episode of the Dear NICU Mama podcast we have the very special privilege to talk with NICU mama and NICU nurse, Kerrie! Kerrie’s daughter Kate was born prematurely at 25 weeks gestation due to an abruption and fetal distress. She spent three months in the NICU before coming home to meet her brother and sisters, and she is now three and thriving! Kerrie has been a registered nurse for ov...

April is C-Section Awareness Month! And this week’s podcast episode Part 2 of a special roundtable episode all about c-sections with co-hosts Ashley and Aisha, and team members Lindsay + Kristen! Throughout this episode they each share more about their healing journey post delivery both emotionally and physically, and what they wish others knew about c-sections. We hope these episodes have been va...

April is C-Section Awareness Month! And this week’s podcast episode is a special roundtable episode all about c-sections with co-hosts Ashley and Aisha, and team members Lindsay + Kristen! Throughout this episode they each share openly about their own c-section deliveries, what they knew about c-sections prior to their deliveries, and how they have processed their birth plan not going to plan. The...

It’s time for another Mamas Call In episode! The topic of developmental milestones, and when and if our NICU grads reach those milestones, can be a very tender subject. On one hand, we are so PROUD of the milestones our children are reaching, and on the other, we can feel exhausted by the amount of charts and graphs that are continually tracking and telling us where our kids should be. This dualit...

This week’s podcast episode is a replay episode from season 6 of the Dear NICU Mama podcast! For the NICU mamas in our sisterhood who find themselves splitting time between their children at home and children in the NICU, we hope you feel seen and heard by this episode. Use code “nicumama” for 50% off Katie’s How to prepare, support and respond to your child during shots course! Find the episode t...

On this week's podcast episode, we have part two of team member Carolissa’s journey with her daughter Elizabeth! Elizabeth was born at 31 weeks and had a 56 day NICU stay. Throughout this episode, Carolissa shares openly about what it was like to split time in the NICU with Elizabeth and time with her older daughter Sophia at home, and what it was like to transition to life as a family of fou...

On this week's podcast episode, we have part one of team member Carolissa’s journey with her daughter Elizabeth! Elizabeth was born at 31 weeks and had a 56 day NICU stay. Throughout this episode, Carolissa shares vulnerably about the rollercoaster of a ride her motherhood journey has been, including experiencing secondary infertility and the emotions that arise when things don’t go the way w...

As NICU families, birthdays often come with a variety of emotions. Joy for the life of our NICU miracles, and grief for their entrance into the world. It’s not uncommon to feel a variety of emotions on birthdays, and in an effort to explore this more we reached out to this sisterhood to share their experiences with navigating and processing birthdays! This episode’s prompt was, “How have you proce...

On this week's podcast episode, we have the honor of hearing DNM team member and podcast co-host Aisha’s NICU journey with her daughter Eva. Eva was born prematurely at 26 weeks at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and had an 82 day NICU stay. Eva is Aisha’s second preemie baby after losing her first, Enzo, earlier in 2018. Throughout the episode Aisha shares what it was like to have a pr...

This week's podcast episode is the recording from our live podcast event hosted by Thrivent for Giving Hearts Day! At this free event, members of our local community were able to order a coffee and hear Tyler + Carrie's NICU journey with their son Jett, and learn more about Dear NICU Mama and who we are as an organization. It was such a special way to kick off the week of Giving Hearts D...

Welcome to Season 8 and Happy Valentine’s Day, beautiful mamas! We hope you are all having a cozy winter and that your 2024 is off to a wonderful start. We are so excited to be back on the podcast with you all and share a Mamas Call In episode! This week’s prompt was, “What is a fun date night you and your partner did in the NICU, or a fun memory you have with your partner in the NICU?” We are exc...

Today’s episode is very bittersweet as we say farewell to Season 7 of the Dear NICU Mama Podcast! We will never be able to fully express the honor and joy that it is to connect with each of you through this podcast and what it means to us to have you listen each and every week. To those of you who are celebrating this holiday season, we wish you a very gentle holidays and a gentle beginning of 202...

As NICU mothers, our breastfeeding journeys often times look different than the ones we may have envisioned. It’s not uncommon to first be hooked up to a breast pump, and it can be days, weeks, or months before we have the chance to try feeding our babies at the breast. As we continue talking about feeding, we wanted to publish an episode for NICU mothers that long to pump or breastfeed, and we ar...

As we approach the holiday season, we thought it would be timely to talk about feeding and eating! As NICU parents, we know that our child’s feeding journey begins in the NICU, but it certainly doesn’t end there. Which is why we are really grateful to have such a gentle and informative conversation with two special guests from the organization Feeding Matters , CEO Jaclyn Pederson and Director of...

It's spooky season! And this week we are sharing a replay of an amazing episode we had the pleasure of recording with Natalie Reiter of Prairieland Counseling back in season 5 all about "spooky" or intrusive thoughts. In this episode we cover: What are intrusive thoughts and how can we identify them? What are common intrusive thoughts that NICU parents might experience? What are som...

As NICU parents, we are trained to track milestones and be hypervigilant about our child’s development. And as we enroll our NICU grads in school, it can feel vulnerable to trust other individuals to be as vigilant as we are! Which is why we are really excited to have an in-depth conversation with Catherine Whitcher, M.Ed of Master IEP Coach about Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and how to partn...

Happy Thursday, beautiful sisterhood! If you are a frequent listener of the DNM Podcast, you may have noticed that we are a day late in posting this week’s podcast episode due to technical issues. BUT we are just as excited to share this week’s mini episode with you all today! In September we launched our “There is Goodness Ahead” collection. And on today’s podcast episode, Ashley shares a bit abo...

On this week’s podcast episode, we have the honor of hearing DNM team member Jess’ NICU journey with her twin boys, Jamie + Morgan! Jess was admitted to the hospital at 30 weeks and 2 days due to preterm premature rupture of the membrane (PPROM). After 2 days in the hospital, Jess went into a very quick labor and delivered her boys via an emergency c- section. Jamie was discharged after 41 days, a...

This week’s podcast episode is all about fevers and illness after NICU! (Cue the tears.) As we enter into what is formally known as cold and flu season, we wanted to have a conversation with a pediatrician who can help us understand some truths and misconceptions about illness. We are so excited to have this conversation with Dr. Jess Daigle of Mom & Me MD ! Not only is Dr. Jess a board certif...

This week’s podcast episode is a special back to school roundtable episode with co-hosts Martha and Ashley, and team members Kendra and Sara! Throughout this episode we hear about their own personal experiences of sending their kids to school, how they advocate for their kids alongside the school system, and some of the triumphs and challenges they’ve experienced along the way. We hope any NICU mo...

Welcome to season 7, beautiful mamas! We hope you all had a wonderful summer and that your fall is off to a great start. We are so excited to be back on the podcast with you all, and we can’t believe we are officially kicking off another season of the podcast with you! We can’t wait to share amazing expert interviews, round table discussions, and NICU motherhood stories with you throughout this se...