Nolan's Preemie Prints NICU Grad Photo Shoot

Please enjoy Preemie Prints' families’ inspirational story & photos. 

Consider supporting our mission to share hope with families who have a baby born prematurely or critically ill. We thank our supporters, Preemie Prints volunteers, and donors for allowing us to continue touching the lives of NICU, preemie, and angel families.

We pray these special memories from Preemie Prints 

will help families heal and remember how strong 

they were in overcoming their NICU journey together.

A NICU STORY | THOUGHTS FROM MOM

“Nolan James was born May 11, 2014 at 7 pounds 4 ounces. He was three weeks early. After 4 hours of pushing and a natural birth, Nolan came out and was brought to my chest. He had a difficult time breathing and was taken to the NICU. There the doctors put him on a sugar IV and antibiotics for a possible lung infection and were keeping him warm in an isolette. My husband and I were able to stay in the small hospitality room so we could be with Nolan and breastfeed him when he got hungry. They were able to rule out an infection after a few of days and in the middle of the week the IV was taken out of his head. Her had trouble staying warm and his bilirubin count was high. So the doctors worked on that.

Having a baby in the NICU can be difficult. We were fortunate that we were able to breastfeed Nolan and change his diapers and hold him and be skin to skin. The difficulty for us was the unknown with when he would be able to come home. It kept changing day to day as his condition changed day to day. Once the doctors felt confident he did not have an infection, we thought we would go home soon, but then he had trouble gaining weight and staying warm so that was another setback. And once that was ok, his bilirubin count went up. So there were a lot of wins and set-backs. Try not to focus on the day you get to go home. Just focus on loving your baby and visiting and being a part of his or her life as much as you can. It was also difficult to be away from him. Some were tying to convince me to have others feed him a bottle so I could sleep through a feeding, and I am glad I didn't because the longer I was away from Nolan, the more emotional and difficult it became. We were fortunate that the hospital had a tiny hospitality room where my husband and I could stay to be close to him after I was discharged from the hospital. We are so thankful that we could stay close and did not have to drive back and forth all day and night. Stay focused on loving your child and being there with them and not the date or how long you have been there. We also focused on how fortunate we were that we could hold him and that it could be worse. My husband was good at forcing me to get outside and try to do some normal things that week. It was good to see the sun and feel the breeze once in a while for a short period of time before we went back to feed Nolan.”

A Note From Shannon:

"The Foleyss are a fantastic, easy-going young family, so loving with one another, doting on their sweet little one Nolan, and just enjoying life. I had such a great time photographing them, especially Nolan. We did a cake smash for his first birthday and he really got into his cake! He also is just learning to walk, so we were able to capture some great moments of him testing out his legs and loving every minute of it."

Photos belong to our volunteer photographers, families, 

and organization please do not use for any purpose. 

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Preemie Prints is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization sharing hope with NICU families through a variety of support programs. One of those programs is the gift of NICU photography and preemie photography. NICU families from across the US can request a no-charge photography session by a Preemie Prints volunteer. The family request from can be found on the right side of our website. These sessions are free of charge and for any NICU family, regardless of time spent in the NICU. The NICU photo shoot can take place inside the NICU or after baby is discharged and at home until their 1st birthday. Facing time in a NICU with a premature or critically ill baby is an extremely difficult time for families. Preemie Prints has a mission to share hope by letting families know they are not alone. Preemie Prints currently has over 100 volunteers nationwide. We are always looking for more volunteers to share in our mission! If you are interested, please email sherri@preemieprints.org and visit our website at www.preemieprints.org. To date Preemie Prints and our volunteers have gifted over 400 NICU family sessions. 

This was a Preemie Prints NICU graduate photography session that took place near Stoddard, WI.

We're thankful to the family for sharing their story & memories in support of other NICU families.