Sandi Hendry’s daughter, Jami, and her husband, Spencer, experienced having a child in the NICU. This story, in Jami’s words, was the inspiration behind the Heart of Minky.
“It was a normal morning for someone that was 32 weeks pregnant. I’d woken up numerous times in the night and was about to get back in bed to catch a couple more hours of sleep when my water broke. To say the least I was terrified! Every thought and emotion rushed through me. “Was my baby going to be okay?” “I didn’t have his nursery done!” “Who’s going to watch my other two kids?”
I was simply just not prepared for this.
We rushed to the hospital where they tried to stop my labor for the next 3 days, but he was ready to come and nothing was going to stop him!
It was a fairly normal labor and he was welcomed to the world June 22, 2014, at around 9:30pm. Little did I know we had a long, hard, unforgettably amazing road ahead before we would feel normal again.
For the next 4 weeks, my husband Spencer and I spent every waking moment in the NICU with our baby boy. There is an unbelievable spirit you feel in the NICU that can only be felt in such a special place with all those precious babies and so much love and support from everyone around you. I cherish that special time I got to cuddle my baby boy all day long, day after day. I will never forget the spirit I felt there.
My mom brought Spencer, Baze, and I Minky Couture blankets to make it cozier and comfortable for us. It was such a blessing! We sat in hard hospital chairs for 28 days and having something soft and warm brought so much comfort to all of us. We then had the idea to bring blankets in for all the moms and their babies. It was a hit - they loved it! It felt wonderful to give them just a little comfort during such an emotionally hard time.
Baze eventually was doing everything he had to do to go home!
When we were released from the NICU and got to bring Baze Jack Bowen home it was such a glorious day, our whole family was ecstatic! We thought how great would it be if we could bring mini blankets to the NICU all the time so everyone in this situation would feel the love and comfort we got to experience when we were there?
And so the Heart of Minky program was created!”
