BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Buffalo nurse just wrote a book with the goal of helping moms in one of most wonderful yet frightening times of their life- the time they spend with their premature baby in the NICU.
Abby Hall of Snyder, NY, is spending her very first Mother's Day in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Sister's of Charity Hospital in Buffalo. She's been there with her newborn twins, Lincoln and Rae, since they were born on February 20, 2019. They were born at 27 weeks, weighing 1 lb. 15 oz. each.
No one knows the joy and grief and emotional journey that comes with the birth of a preemie except for the parents, and also the NICU nurses who are there around the clock.
"Whether you're in the NICU for 6 hours or 6 months, it's a really traumatic experience," said Sister's Hospital NICU Nurse Practitioner Alyssa Veech. "I just felt very compelled to share the struggle that I see with all the moms that I work with."
So Veech spent the past year putting pen to paper and writing a book for parents to read to their precious preemies. She called it Small But Mighty.
"I think sometimes here when it can get very busy we get very caught up in some of the tasks that we need to do in making sure that all of our paperwork is done and it can be hard to spend that time with parents at the bedside and I feel like it sort of drew me back to the reason I became a NICU nurse in the first place and that's to take care of these little patients and be there for their families as well," said Veech.
Veech says often moms say they feel helpless in the NICU, but by reading the book they are helping their babies.
"We know that the sound of a mom's voice is very soothing to babies. We know that when you read to premature babies it has a very positive impact on their brain development and their language skills as they get older," said Veech.
So a book like this doesn't just help moms emotionally, but it could help preemies physiologically.
"This book is literally our life right now and I think if anyone has ever been touched by the NICU or has a child in the NICU it is a must have," said Hall.
Small But Mighty is available for purchase at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. To read more about the book click here - small-but-mighty.org .