My sincerest hope is that the more things stay the same.
It’s been a while since I’ve been here, it was a long and tiring semester for me, I overbooked myself constantly and was at the hospital all the darn time. I’m back in action now and I’m going to do my best to keep at it here on the blog! Since we last spoke (or rather wrote and read), some things have changed in my life in some really cool ways.
This semester, I had classes and clinical rotations in obstetrics and pediatrics, both of which threw respective curveballs at me. I also started working as a Patient Care Intern in the float pool at my local hospital, working in both the children’s hospital and adult hospital. Through it all, I found that I have more of a love for pediatrics than I thought I did – kiddos older than babies are amazing too in their own right! Now after these experiences working as well as at clinical in labor & delivery, postpartum, special care nursery, inpatient peds, outpatient peds, and even school nursing, I wanted to let you guys know that FTL is going to expand a bit. While I still deeply love NICU babies and advocating for them, a part of being passionate about the lives of babies is expanding into the world that these hospitalized kiddos enter after discharge.
I’ve been so deeply inspired by the kids I’ve met since I started this journey, from the preemie babies to the chronically ill teenagers, cancer patients and appendectomies – they’ve meant more to me than I can explain. I wish I could tell you about all the amazing kids I’ve met, their jokes they’ve told, their stories of survival and triumph, but who has time for all that. Just know that my admiration for the resilience and fight in children may have started with NICU babies, but I know now that it continues in hospitalized children – they’re capable and beautiful, strong and genuinely so fun!
Moving forward, I’m going to publish on pediatric complex care and rehabilitation, trauma, mental health, resources, grieving, and Lord knows what else. Our identity itself is not changing because at the heart of this website, my little internet haven, there is always the NICU baby. The NICU baby that taught me to be strong and courageous, got me out of bed when I thought I just couldn’t, and inspired me to become the person I am now.
Stick around and grow with me to advocate beyond our wildest dreams. Thank you for reading, remember we’re still #nicustrong even if now we’re also #kidstrong.
For The Littlest 