LUBBOCK, Texas — September is NICU Awareness month.
And for anyone who has had a baby in a hospital intensive care, they know it can be a time filled with a lot of emotions.
Two former NICU moms, Katie Peppard and Amee Carr, are bringing comfort to these moms by putting together comfort boxes for moms in the NICU at Covenant Children’s Hospital.
The same place they called home not too long ago.
“Kate was born at 26 weeks,” Carr said. “I had an emergency C-section and I had a 1 pound 8 ounce baby. She was 11.75 inches long, so a ruler was longer than her and we were in NICU for 123 days.”
“I had an emergency C-section and was put under,” said Peppard. “I woke up and my baby was in NICU. Asher was 3 pounds 4 ounces. We were in the NICU for 45 days.”
“It is really lonely and surreal and it’s just hard,” Peppard said. “No one really knows what it’s like until you’ve been through it.”
So Carr and Peppard decided to pay it forward with comfort boxes, filled with things for mom and baby.
“Just some nice things like hydration packets, comfy socks for mom, some socks for baby,” Peppard explained. “There’s some body wash for mom and this balm that can work for mom or baby and lip balm for mom. And we’ll put handwritten notes and maybe ways to contact us in there if they need anything or need someone to talk too.”
Both moms agree support from others kept them going.
Something they hope they can provide to help these mamas realize they’re not alone.
“A lot of times when your baby is in NICU it’s all about the baby and everything that the parents, especially the mom is doing behind the scenes, is kind of forgotten about,” Carr explained. “And also I feel like when you’re a parent in general, you kind of lose who you are a little bit and when you’re in NICU you lose it a lot. So just to be told, ‘Hey, I see you. I love you and I’m praying for you.'”
The comfort boxes will be brought to moms in the NICU at Covenant Children’s Hospital – where both of the moms stayed.
If you would like to help these moms make more comfort boxes, Venmo donations to Katie Peppard: @katie-peppard.
