Not at one point during my entire pregnancy did I ever give one thought to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. For me, it was simply a term I’d occasionally hear on Grey’s Anatomy or Chicago Med. Our doctors never mentioned it. I didn’t really know anyone who had delivered babies who had to stay in the NICU. Of course, I’d read about premature babies and high risk twin pregnancies that had resulted in very long NICU stays. Still, I never really thought that it was somethin

The immediate aftermath of the delivery was relatively quiet for us, thankfully. After I was stitched back up, I was wheeled back into the room where we had spent the day but so much had changed. I didn’t have any immediate complications and was checked in on every fifteen minutes by the nursing staff. They were very kind to us. I was asked if I could wiggle my toes over and over, which I couldn’t do for a couple of hours until the spinal wore off. I was asked to sit tig