Martha Sharkey is the Founder & CEO of Today is a Good Day, a non-profit providing personal and financial support for families who experience the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Martha and her husband, Paul, founded Today is a Good Day in honor of their daughter, Claire, and in memory of their daughter, Mary. They welcomed their identical twin girls at just 23 weeks and 5 days on November 14, 2010.
Quick Call Outs from the Episode:
- Mange expectations in the NICU - remain hopeful, but remember that hope can evolve and change
- The NICU experience never leaves us even years later
- Take comfort knowing that everything happens for “a chunk of time” - this season is not going to last forever
- The NICU is one chunk of time, but then you get into a new chapter when you go home
- When you get home it can be hard to express that you’d like people to keep distance when you are starting to venture out and take part in activities with your NICU grad
- You may experience the desire to be in community, but also want to take good care in not exposing your baby to germs unnecessarily especially after being in the hospital - and it’s ok to express that!
- Do what works best for your family and change it up as you feel comfortable
- It is likely that you will be managing follow up appointments with specialists, as well as visits to your child’s pediatrician - take a listen to the Today is a Good Day podcast episode - Building a Strong Relationship with Your Pediatrician for some helpful tips like: what you need to know for your first pediatrician visit.
- Journaling is helpful for many reasons like: keeping track of your baby’s progress, and writing about how you’re feeling. You can keep the journal going when you are home and can use it to refer to when you see your child’s health care providers and want to share about particular progress that was made.
Martha’s NICU Alumni Grad Guide - her advice for after the NICU:
- Start with what is locally available
- Prioritize Early Intervention - request an evaluation so that you can get started as soon as possible. The onboarding process takes time. Even if you think that your child is too young and not really doing much as a newborn, the therapists provide great support through simple exercises that can be built upon to foster your child’s development. (We published an Early Intervention 101 Guide, click here and we'll send it to you!)
- Take time for self care. When you’re caring for yourself, you’re able to care for your baby, (we share some great self care tips here)
More about Today is a Good Day
- At Today is a Good Day, they take great care in creating welcome packages for the families they serve. The packages include messages of celebration (they firmly believe that every birth should be celebrated 🎉), stories from other families, and helpful items.
- If you are wondering what you can give a NICU family as a gift when they welcome their baby to the world, con
A special thanks to the Prolacta Bioscience Foundation for supporting the NICU Alumni podcast!
You can also support our mission and help create brighter futures for babies that have graduated from the NICU (who we affectionately refer to as NICU Alumni) and their families by donating here.
The purpose of this podcast is for entertainment only and should not be viewed as medical advice.