Coping with NICU stay

Hi friends ❤️ My precious baby angel was born on 7/18 with T21. We knew about the diagnosis from early on in pregnancy, so I knew a NICU stay would be a strong possibility for us but was hoping for the best as I had a healthy, full-term pregnancy and she very fortunately does not have a heart condition. She’s been there for 18 days now, her stridor was so significant she had to have surgery last week. Still not able to bottle feed safely and any improvements seem slow to nonexistent…ugh. We have two other small children and live 45 minutes away from the hospital so it’s just not possible to be with her more than a couple hours a day. I miss her so much and as the days go on it is getting harder and harder to stay positive. It is so unnatural being postpartum and not having my baby with me. I’m just sad and in my feels this morning…

For other parents who had a NICU stay after birth, how did you cope? Any tips for keeping your head up and getting through this? I’m hoping some of you have similar stories where everything ended up all right and your little munchkin is home, healthy, and thriving now 🙂