NICU Milestone Cards

This is the first time I've designed something so personal. Four years ago, I delivered my son in what was a complicated, traumatic birth experience. He was born unable to swallow and needed surgery to survive. He was transported without me in an ambulance to Randall Children's Hospital and spent 21 days in the neonatal intensive care unit, recovering from surgery.

Being a NICU parent is an other-worldly experience. Time stands still as you wait on any news. You spend hours in a dark, sterile hospital room researching your child's diagnosis and trying to pronounce the 11-syllable condition, learning as much as possible to explain it to others. You are constantly answering (or avoiding) communication from friends and family as you wait for your child to get better. For me, my family was 3,000 miles away and it was tough. Heathcare providers stream in and out of your room at all hours. It's isolating, sad, lonely and exhausting.

After three long weeks, we were able to bring our son home and start a "normal" life. We weren't out of the woods, but could start celebrating the milestones other babies experience.

A year after my son's birth, Randall Children's Hospital asked me to join the NICU Family Advisory Council. As a NICU parent, I'd weigh in on policies and initiatives, help plan events for current NICU families and share my experience. One parent mentioned they wished they could have celebrated milestones as parents of non-medically fragile babies do. The idea arose for a set of special NICU milestone cards for parents, and I volunteered to design them. Our group created a list of milestones our babies had celebrated and the idea took off. One mom used a printing connection to donate sets of cards to Randall. At my last visit, one NICU baby had earned almost all of the cards during their 100+ day stay!

Note: While I wish I were, I am not an illustrator. The beautiful watercolor animals I used were designed by freepik.

My fellow NICU moms asked for write-in options, for when visitors came to meet baby and to mark other special events. And, because many babies are born prematurely, I made cards to mark their gestational age being met as well.