Love for Lily

Thank you Oti Mabuse for sharing so openly the challenges of your NICU experience. NICU parents around the globe relate to your pain as you left your baby girl each night. The impacts of premature birth ripple far and wide and your heart will never be the same again. Thank you for sharing your story and bringing awareness to the experience of NICU parents. To families currently navigating: you are not alone. We are here to walk with you. #Preemie #NICU #NICUSupport

Meet Caitlin! We're so happy to welcome her to our team as a Parent Coach & Group Facilitator. Caitlin is a former elementary educator turned tutor and parent coach. She is an Educational Therapist at the SAGE Center for Gifted, tutoring gifted and twice-exceptional students within the cognitive, affective, and regulatory domains. Her work coaching parents focuses on emotional intelligence, nervous system regulation, and developmental science. Most importantly, Caitlin is a mama to two NICU warriors. Her first son was born in 2019 at 28 weeks gestation and spent 116 days in the NICU at St. Joe’s in Denver. Her second son was born in 2021 at 34 weeks and spent 2 weeks in the NICU. They are both now healthy and thriving! When she’s not supporting students or families, you’ll find Caitlin (trying to) explore the outdoors with her boys, listening to a podcast while walking her dog, or designing a photo book. She’s never met a chai latte she didn’t like, and is always on the search for ethical brands to support.

"My little girl was due August 31, 2024. However, on May 17th, I was admitted at a hospital in Omaha, NE due to preeclampsia with severe features. I had thrown two severe blood pressure in an hour. We were supposed to move to Laramie Wyoming two weeks from when I got admitted. I was in the hospital for two and a half weeks before having an emergency c-section on June 4th. At 10:55 pm, Kaya Mae was born at 27 weeks 3 days, weighing 855g or 1lb 14 oz. She first left the OR on CPAP then about 5 hours later was intubated. From there it was a day by day type of flow. On June 24th she had to be reintubated because her tube got clogged with secretions. From there we found that she more than likely had clinical pneumonia. She went from being on cpap to a jet ventilator to an oscillator vent. Once the pneumonia was cleared, we worked on weaning her off the vent and get extubated. Once that happened she excelled wonderfully. We ended up being discharged after 84 days in the NICU and a couple days before her due date. She was sent home on low flow oxygen because we were moving to a much higher elevation. While she was doing good for the first few weeks at home, we started noticing her volume intake was starting to decrease and she was not putting weight on fast enough. On October 18th, we were admitted to our local hospital for observation to problem solve. After four days there, where resources were limited, we decided to be transferred to a higher level of care at Poudre Valley Hospitals NICU. We were transferred on October 22nd. We did a few different tests. We got an echo done and a swallow study. In her swallow study, it showed that she has a high probability of silently aspirating. After trial and error of figuring out how to feed her safely and so she could take her volumes, we went home on November 4th on ng feeds. It’s been a journey to say the least. We are grateful for the resources we have but being a NICU parent is not for the weak. I always keep a little quote in the back of my pocket for those hard days. That quote is: “Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep the faith. It will all be worth it in the end.”??-Katelynn, NICU Mama We're honored to have walked alongside this sweet family on their journey and other families like theirs. ?? Read Katelynn's story on our blog: https://lnkd.in/gDFDUuSV #NICUAwareness #NeonatalUnit #NICUSupport #NICUFamily

We're so excited to share a bit about one of our new Parent Coach & Group Facilitators, Jane! Jane is mama to Judah, a NICU grad, and wife to Luke. She works in private practice as an LPCC and aims to complete the licensure process in the next couple of years. She holds a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Denver Seminary and is especially passionate about helping people move through traumatic life events and learn to live a life of fullness alongside complicated emotions. The NICU is not in anyone’s plan and the journey can feel very dark. As a NICU parent coach and group facilitator with Love for Lily, Jane aims to make every person who loves a NICU baby feel seen, heard, and known in all that the experience will bring.

We're grateful to have provided some comfort for this mama through one of our Essentials Bags. In these bags, we include a journal for parents to record memories and thoughts during their NICU stay. Here's what mom said: "Gracias por haber sido un apoyo en duros momentos, el 15 de agosto del 2023 nació mi bebe con Gastroschisis lo operaron al nacer, nació por cesárea, se suponía que iba a estar al menos 4 meses en NICU, gracias a dios ae recuperó en 15 días de su operación y hasta el momento no ha tenido que volver a operarse, usted pasaron por su cuarto y nos dejaron una bolsa se Love for Lily, con un cuaderno y lápiz (entre otras cosas) con los cuales plasme toda mi angustia, amor y esperanzas, después de cada visita a mi bebe llegaba a casa a escribir." "Thank you for being a support in difficult times, on August 15, 2023 my baby was born with Gastroschisis, he had surgery at birth, he was born by cesarean section, he was supposed to be in the NICU for at least 4 months, thank God he recovered in 15 days after his operation and so far he has not had to have another operation, you stopped by his room and left us a Love for Lily bag, with a notebook and pencil (among other things) with which I expressed all my anguish, love and hopes, after each visit to my baby I came home to write." #NeonatalUnit #NICUMom #NICUSupport

At Love for Lily, our goal is to provide support to families and medical teams in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Colorado and beyond. Love for Lily services work to fill the need for social-emotional support for parents of NICU babies. While infants receive world-class medical care, there is often nobody there for the parents.? Navigating the NICU comes with immense stress: parents have to leave their baby behind in the hospital and sometimes wait weeks just to hold their fragile infant, all while having to make life or death decisions. As a nonprofit, we rely on donors to sustain our programs supporting NICU families and the medical professionals who care for them. Please consider sharing this post to help our #ColoradoGives fundraiser reach more people. Your donation helps us continue to support the parents of NICU babies in small and big ways: ??Providing families with bags of essential items and holiday gifts ??Funding facilitated coaching groups providing a safe space where parents can connect with people who understand what they're going through and access resources to support their family, while they are in-unit and after discharge. ??Sustaining our multiple grant programs provides a helping hand to parents. Creating possibilities for families to be at their baby's bedside, access therapies after discharge not covered by insurance, and so much more. ??Providing bereavement and grief support to families whose lives are forever changed by the loss of a baby. ??Educating NICU medical teams about our family programs, coping skills, self-care practices, team-building education, and more. #ColoradoGivesDay #LoveForLilyNICU #NICUNonprofit #NICUSupport

We're so honored to have walked alongside this sweet family, from preemie in the NICU to tornado toddler! Thanks for sharing your story, mama ?? In honor of World Prematurity Month, help us provide ongoing support for NICU families. Consider a recurring gift of $10/month to support 1 out of 10 babies born in Colorado who are premature. https://lnkd.in/gTSNS_aP ?#NICUMama?#NICUStory

This World Prematurity Day, let’s honor the little fighters who inspire us every day ????. Share your story, start a fundraiser, and help us provide support to families in need. Together, we can create hope for the next generation of preemies! #HopeForPreemies #WorldPrematurityDay?#ColoradoGivesDay Share Your Story! Visit our Colorado Gives Fundraiser, then click the button that says “fundraise". https://lnkd.in/gviEj469

Did you know that our very own NFL Broncos safety, Delarrin Turner-Yell, started life as a preemie? His incredible journey is a testament to resilience and the power of hope. Read his story on CBS News Colorado here: https://lnkd.in/gWa23fC7 Born too soon,Turner-Yell weighed only three pounds, but with the love and support of his mother and the medical community, he not only survived but thrived. Today, he inspires us on and off the field, reminding us that every struggle can lead to a remarkable story. Let’s celebrate the strength of our community and continue to support all the tiny fighters out there. Share your stories, spread the word, and let’s show our preemies they have an entire community cheering for them! ?? #PreemiePride #CommunityStrength #DenverBroncos #WorldPrematurityAwareness https://lnkd.in/gviEj469

We can't wait to deliver holiday gifts this December to the NICUs we serve! Here's what goes into our holiday bags: from gather items, to making bracelets, to assembling the gifts. Thank you to the companies who donated goods and the volunteers who helped it all come together! UCHealth, RMHC HCA HealthONE Presbyterian St. Luke's, Boulder Community Health, St. Joe’s SCL Healthcare #NICULove #ColoradoGivesDay