International Kangaroo Care Day

Today was International Kangaroo Care Day - Kangaroo Care is the skin to skin contact with momma (or daddy) and baby. It's thought to promote healing and bonding for the parent and child, especially among preemies. Yet in some hospitals it is not a current standard of care.

When A & B were born, this was the first method in which I was able to hold them (minus the five seconds when I held Addison in the palms of my hands while a nurse changed her bedding). Holding them skin to skin also helped to regulate their body temperature when they couldn't quite do it themselves. (Aka when they were still in the incubators).

Here is the first time I held Blake (Kangaroo Style) - he was 5 days old and this was just shortly before I was discharged to go home

And this is Addison and I...she was over a month old the first time I got to hold her. (A month and six days to be exact.) She was still intubated, and it didn't last long because she wasn't tolerating it as well as we hoped. She wasn't much of a cuddler back in her NICU days, but sometimes she makes up for it now.

If you'd like to find out more about Kangaroo Care and it's benefits, check out this website: http://www.kangaroocareusa.org/