Helping a friend - NICU Question

BananaBlitz

Hi everyone --  I do not post to this board but thought this would be the best place to ask. A close friend of mine had her sweet baby admitted to the NICU yesterday. Very unexpected as he had just been released from the hospital after being born.  For those of you who have had or do have a child in the NICU -- what was the most helpful thing a friend could do for you? Bring over pre-made meals to their home? Gift cards? (Gas cards, coffee, quick restaurants, grocery store, etc) They live close to the hospital and have family nearby.

TIA --

MrsA808

The best thing we got was leftovers.  Although our situation was a little different (we stayed at the hospital/Ronald McDonald House), it was so good to just have home cooked food to eat!  Hospital food gets so old after a while.

Change for vending machines is good too!

chelle828

When DS was in the NICU, I remember parking got very expensive - in and out of the hospital garage three times a day - if you could offer to cover some of that it would def. be appreciated!

jycarrillo

Coffee and your support.  I cannot tell you how much that helped me.  Just to have friends and family there meant the world.  Food is probably a must too, but I didn't have much of an appetite during the entire NICU stay.  Everything made me sick.

They're lucky to have such a considerate friend like you.

Crystal318

The best thing anyone did for us was "be the messenger."  Our phone rang off the hook all day everyday and although it was great to know how much everyone cared, the only thing I cared about was LO. My sister became the messenger. She would relay all the latest updates to the whole family and it was just so much easier for me so that I could just concentrate on LO and not have to tell the story and update everyone a hundred times a day!

Gas cards and food would be nice too! 

I wish you, your friend and her baby the best!

 

mommy06

The thi gs that have helped me are coffee, dollars for the vending machines, books, home cooked meals and prayers. We are still in the nicu with our lo and these things have helped tremendously. Oh yeah and my mom does all of our laundry, it has been WONDERFUL to not have to worry about that when we get home late at night.

venussonata

We really needed someone to help us clean up.  We would spend all day at the hospital then when we came home we'd just throw things down then go to bed and head back the next day.  By the time our baby was ready to come home two weeks later our place was an absolute disaster.