There is a program here at the hospital and at other hospitals called the Bravery Beads program. I’ve heard it started for babies with heart issues but the website looks like it is pretty cancer oriented…either way it goes for NICU babies too. When you sign up you get a string and letter beads to spell the babies name. Then you get your list of procedures and milestones to keep by the babies bed and write the date next to each one as they happen. These include admission to the NICU, first IV, blood transfusions, first bottle, and lots lots more. When your baby earns the beads you get to add them to the string to make a necklace/bracelet/whatever you want it to be to remember the time spent in the hospital and all of the things your baby went through to be able to go home.
I had been meaning to sign up and never got around to it and then we ended up going home. Well, now that we are back here I finally signed up and am going to get all the beads Timmy has earned in the 1 month he has been around!
Today he earned another bead…first nose tube
Now that he is breathing better and taking bottles the mouth tube was just in the way
Anywho, the gift shops here at the hospital sell the Bravery Heart necklaces and bracelets. It’s like the grown up version 🙂 A nice reminder that all the stress and everything we are going through is to make sure our babies are taken care of and ready to go home.
The best part about the Bravery Heart jewelry is that the money you spend on a necklace goes toward the Bravery Beads program 🙂
You can learn more about it here… https://www.braveryhearts.com/
I’m looking forward to TF being a rotten teenager and me being able to whip out his string of beads to remind him of all I went through to get him to his teens lol 🙂 I doubt he’ll care 😉
Look at that grin. Rotten already. And I love it 😀