UPMC Children's Hospital and Beverly's PGH hold community baby shower for NICU families
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - UPMC Children's and Beverly's PGH held a NICU community baby shower on Wednesday as a chance to celebrate and help families who have infants being cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit.
The room at UPMC Children's has a collage and it is a collection of so many stories.
Mothers shared their stories of their babies being born prematurely.
"I had triplets in December," said Mikki Williams, "I was due in March."
"They were born at 23 weeks and one day," recalled Devyn Rifle.
"I had my daughter at 26 weeks and it was very unplanned," added Katie Bates.
The path forward for them is often tough, but sometimes, you just need some sort of respite. That's exactly what Beverly's PGH tried to give those mothers at UPMC Children's Hospital.
"There was a lot of families that were in the NICU in the hospital that might not have been able to have the ability to leave for a shower, so we were like, we'll come to you," said Darla Sherlock, the Senior Director of Programming at Beverly's PGH.
With all the fun, there were also tables of resources and information about groups for those mothers to lean on.
"We like to bring some glitter and cheer, but also by doing that, we connect them with some amazing agency providers that are here in the room today," Sherlock said.
These activities are more than just a break, they're a resource to help these NICU mothers connect.
"It's been a good support for not only me but them as well," said Bates.
They're building bonds untied by their littlest neighbors.
