The Late Mic Podcast - Parenting, Stories and Sarcasm · Dan Hancock (UK) with his wife, Sarah (USA) - Married couple with kids, challenges and sarcasm

3 Months In The NICU With Our Daughter - (Emmy's Story Part 2)

·1 hr 5 min·4 clips

A nurse told Sarah there was a brain clot before the doctors explained Emmy’s scan.

Dan and Sarah return to Emmy's story after part one. They remind listeners that Emmy was born at 26 weeks. The mood stays casual even when the subject is not, and they say they cope with hard things by laughing and trying to lighten them a bit. Sarah remembers tearing up during the earlier part, even though that did not really come through in the recording. From there they pick up in the NICU, where Emmy is connected to tubes and on breathing support. When she is intubated, Sarah says she is too scared to hold her. They settle for putting their hands in the incubator instead. That detail sets the tone: close, careful, and a little awkward in the way real care often is. Later, they remember the first or second time holding Emmy while she was on CPAP. The CPAP hose pops loose while Sarah is holding her, which briefly sounds like a much bigger problem than it is. The panic clears when they realize it is the connection, not Emmy, that slipped. Dan explains CPAP with the balloon analogy. The point is to open the lungs and keep them open so the baby can breathe more easily. He also says that matters because it keeps the baby from burning too many calories just breathing. The story widens when they remember a medical emergency on another baby in the room. Doctors swarm in, and both of them feel the awkwardness of being present for someone else's emergency. They say they wanted to respect the other family's privacy, even while the moment was happening right next to them. They add that the baby is doing well now. By the end, the talk gets a little scattered with phone interruptions, running corrections, and the plain, affectionate back-and-forth that makes the whole thing feel lived in, then they sign off with a tired see-you-after-bedtime.

As heard by us

A NICU story that keeps fear, relief, and small jokes in the same frame.

Part two stays with Emmy's 26-week arrival and the NICU strain around it. Dan and Sarah keep circling the same memories, correcting each other, laughing, then coming back to the hard parts. That back and forth gives the episode a lived in feel.

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Why you'd press play

You want the NICU story, the CPAP explainer, and the laugh-through-it honesty.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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