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A podcast that highlights the importance of parental involvement in the NICU and how it can positively impact the infant’s short and long term outcomes.

@empoweringnicuparents

Nicole Nyberg

Empowering NICU Parents
-NICU Mom & NNP
-Podcast Host, Public Speaker
-Educate & Empower NICU parents & clinicians empoweringnicuparents@yahoo.com

April is HIE Awareness Month, and this year the @hopeforhie community’s theme is: Hold Onto Hope.

Today, we honor the incredible children and families whose lives have been impacted by HIE by featuring some of these incredibly brave little ones from the very beginning of their stories to where they are today.

You will see strength. Resilience. Joy. Courage. You will see children who continue to defy expectations in their own beautiful ways, and families who have walked beside them through every challenge, milestone, setback, and victory.

To every parent, sibling, grandparent, family member, and support system: we see you too. We honor your strength, your advocacy, your love, and the way you continue to show up for your child and family, even on the difficult days.

If your child has been diagnosed with HIE and you have not yet connected with Hope for HIE, we encourage you to do so. Their community and resources are truly incredible, and no family should have to walk this journey alone.

Please join us in celebrating these amazing children and the stories behind these photos. Share a heart, a word of encouragement, or simply help us remind these families that they are not alone.

If you would like to share your child’s story, please send us a DM. We would be honored to celebrate and honor them too.

#nicujourney #holdontohope #hopeforhie #hieawareness #nicuparents

This podcase episode is different.

I had the honor of stepping into the guest seat on the NICU Today Podcast with Martha Sharkey, and what began as a conversation about my journey into nursing and the NICU gradually unfolded into something much more personal.

We talked about how I found my way into neonatology, and how I naively once believed I truly understood most things about the NICU so clearly. But after William was born extremely premature, and I walked back into the unit where I worked… but as his Mom.

Scared. Vulnerable. Uncertain. Protective in a way I had never understood before.

Seeing everything through an entirely different lens.

In this episode, I share what it was like to hold both roles — provider and parent — and how that experience reshaped me personally and professionally. We talk about family involvement, skin-to-skin care, education, advocacy, and why parental presence is not optional in the NICU. It matters. For babies. And for parents.

If you are a parent, I hope this episode reminds you that your presence, your voice, and your advocacy belong right alongside your baby.

If you are a clinician, I hope it offers perspective from the other side of the isolette.

This conversation is the heart 💙 and The Why Behind Empowering NICU Parents.

Sometimes the tiniest, most unexpected humans can become our greatest teachers and heroes.

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Link in bio.

#nicuparents #nicujourney #nicuawareness #nicumom #nicunurse

The NICU experience doesn’t just affect the baby — it impacts parents, relationships, and family life long after discharge.
 I’m inviting NICU parents to share their perspective through a short, optional survey. Some responses may help shape an upcoming podcast episode, and some parents may be invited to join the conversation.
 Comment NICU and I’ll send you the survey. 💜

#NICUParents #nicumom #nicudad #nicubaby #nicugraduate

An unexpected delivery at 23 weeks turned Martha and Paul Sharkey into NICU parents overnight when their identical twin daughters were born far too soon. What followed was a journey through extreme prematurity, loss, and the kind of uncertainty that changes a family forever.

In our most recent episode, Martha shares her family’s story — from navigating the NICU and grieving the loss of her daughter Mary, to building Today Is a Good Day, a nonprofit created to support NICU families and ensure that not one single parent walks alone.

She also shares key takeaways from their NICU journey and from building a nonprofit, making this episode especially meaningful for NICU parents and for anyone who feels called to turn lived experience into purpose.

This conversation is honest, emotional, and full of perspective — whether you’re in the NICU now, have endured a loss, are raising a NICU graduate, or simply need to hear a story of hope and resilience.

🎧 Listen now on the Empowering NICU Parents Podcast 🔗 Link in bio

#nicuparents #micropreemie #twinparents #empoweringnicuparents #nicujourney

❄️ This little snowbunny is ready for the snowstorm… who else is? ☃️💙

Would you rather: ❄️ or ☀️?

#nicubaby #nicuparents #snowapocalypse #snowstorm2026 #bringonthesnow

Happy New Year.

For some, the new year arrives with excitement. For others, it arrives quietly — with uncertainty, exhaustion, or hope that’s still finding its footing.

Wherever you are today, know this: Hope continues.
 And if that’s all you can hold onto right now… Keep going.

One step. One breath. One day at a time. 🤍

#HappyNewYear #HopeContinues #KeepGoing #OneDayAtATime #HoldingSpace #QuietStrength #GentleBeginnings #newyear2026 #hopeandstrength #nicuparents #nicunurse #nnp #neonatologist #nicubaby #nicutherapist

If you are spending Christmas in the NICU with your baby, it’s likely not what you imagined for this season. It’s completely understandable if this time feels heavy.

Today, we hold space for you and recognize how hard it is to feel torn between being with your baby and being pulled toward other family and friends on a holiday. You are seen. You are not alone.

We are holding you and your baby close in our thoughts this holiday. 🤍

#NICU #NICUParent #NICUStrong #HolidayInTheNICU #NICULife #NICUSupport #ChristmasInTheNICU #FamilyCenteredCare #nicubaby #christmastime #nicumama #nicunurse

The Why Behind Empowering NICU Parents

From NICU Experience to Nonprofit Mission: A Family’s Journey to Today Is a Good Day

The Lifelong Journey and Impact of Premature Birth: What Families Should Know

The Positive Effects of Parental Engagement in the NICU

Supporting Infant Mental Health in the NICU

The Benefits of Reading to Your Baby in the NICU

Life After NICU With a Medically Complex Child: What is the Reality? Part II

Life After NICU With a Medically Complex Child: What is the Reality?

Questions Parents Should Ask Their Baby’s NICU Care Team Each Day

NICU Trauma – How Well Are You Coping?

Infant of Diabetic Mother: What are the potential complications and typical treatment plan?

Gestational Diabetes: From diagnosis in pregnancy to blood sugar management and its effect on the health of the mother and infant

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Nicole Nyberg

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