Recording Your Experience

Your baby’s time in the NICU is important and full of milestones, firsts, procedures, and issues that you and your baby will experience. Here are a couple of ideas for documenting these things while your baby is in the NICU

1. A Photo A Day – With our son we took at least one picture of him every day that he was in the NICU. A lot of the pictures are similar however it allows us to look back and see how he progressed and remember those experiences. Even if you can’t do a photo a day, try to take regular pictures of your baby so you can watch him/her develop. I would highly recommend buying a disposable camera and keeping it at your baby’s bed/isolette so that if you forget your camera, you can still document an experience as it happens.
2. Journal – Write down the big and little things that your baby (and you!) experience in the NICU. A couple of years after our son was born I went back to do a scrapbook of his NICU experience and realized that there were some things that I didn’t remember when they happened. So for our daughter I kept a daily journal of what was going on. Sometimes it was just a recording of her weight and how she was doing. Other times were longer entries about things that happened or how we were feeling. I love that I have something detailed to look back on as the years go by.
3. Calendar – Carry a small calendar in your purse or pocket. When something happens to your baby – blood transfusion, milestone weight gain, first bath, etc. you can write it down on the day it happened. That will give you an easy way to record and remember when things happened.

There are many ways to document your babies NICU experience – just pick something that works for you.