12/06/2025
I found out I was pregnant right as COVID was becoming “a thing” in Canada, but at the time, we were mostly just thrilled to be having a baby. We kept the gender a surprise (we don't get many as adults!) and decorated a neutral nursery with elephants (something special from my Auntie Heather). I had names ready, due date letters organized, and a secret hope for an October/Fall baby. 🍂
But life had other plans...
By July 27, 2020, my placenta had stopped working, my blood pressure was high, and with gestational diabetes already on the table, I was admitted to the hospital. After close monitoring and steroid shots, our baby arrived by c-section 8 weeks early on August 5.
I was terrified. When you think of preemies… they look like little aliens, not fully formed, tiny little things. And because I was so sick, I didn't get to see my baby until 27 hours after delivery. But when I finally did - she was perfect! Tiny, at 2 lbs 13 oz, but perfect. 💜 Estellise Allison Christina Whalen.
It was full-blown COVID. I was in the ICU, she was in the NNICU, and her dad and I couldn’t visit her together. He rotated between my bedside and hers, and once he returned to work, I’d be in the NNICU with our beautiful daughter.
And the nurses… oh my goodness, I don’t know what we would have done without them. They cared for her with such tenderness, and they cared for me, too. Even with constant alarms setting off my migraines, every moment of skin-to-skin was worth it. When breastfeeding didn’t work, and I could only pump tiny amounts, the nurses encouraged me without judgment. When we switched to formula, they were amazing. They provided everything we needed: ni***es, bottles, diapers, wipes. They dressed her in the cutest donated pink outfits, helped me give her first bath, and taught me how to hold and care for her around all those wires.
27 days after she was born, her dad and I finally saw her together for the first time and took her home as a family. Thanks to our NNICU family, she already had a great feeding and sleeping schedule, so the transition home was relatively easy. I still joke that the NNICU prepared us better than any parenting class could.
Now, five years later, Estellise has started kindergarten! She’s hit every milestone, and you’d never know she was a preemie.
Preemie Power is Amazing!
NNICU is amazing!
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