Raeli Korzeniecki

It’s march for babies and moms season & my team “Good Sam Stork Squad” walks on May 3rd. For the next couple months I’ll be posting about why this is so important and so precious to me as a Labor and Delivery Nurse.

Babies can come into this world as early as 24 weeks to receive NICU care. Weighing sometimes less than one pound. The day these babies are born leaves their families feeling like their world has been turned upside down. Parents can spend on average over 100 days with their babies in the NICU. That’s more than 100 days of mom and dad having to go home at night leaving their babies. Over 100 days siblings can’t meet their new brother or sister. Over 100 days of respiratory support, IV sticks, lab draws, and many other procedures. 100+ days that everyone watches these babies move mountains and reach milestones we weren’t sure they would meet.

I walk for these babies. Babies who come into the world far too early and put up the strongest fight.

I walk for the moms who don’t get to hold their babies right away.

I walk for the dads who have to choose if they want to stay in the delivery room with mom or go up to the NICU with their baby.

I walk for the siblings, who don’t get to meet their sibling for months on end. Siblings who don’t understand why mom and dad keep going to the hospital every day but keep coming home without a baby in tow.

I walk for parents who spend days or sometimes even weeks waiting to hold their little bundle for the first time. Parents who spend countless hours between a home life and a hospital life. Parents who spend hundreds of days advocating for their babies hoping and praying that they will be able to bring them home.

I walk so babies CAN go home, so we can see more families reunited, and so we can celebrate more first birthdays (and many more).

Please consider donating to my fundraising goal and supporting Good Samaritan Stork Squad during their efforts of raising money for our March of Dimes Walk May 3rd.