Jennifer “Jenni” Barwell remembers the dream-like and anxiety-fueled feelings of being in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) after her first child, Lilli, was born 13 years ago.

Jenni hadn’t expected an early delivery, but at 22 weeks in her pregnancy, she started to have complications and was informed she might miscarry. Lilli was born a month later at 26 weeks, weighing just over 2 lbs. The baby would spend her next 13 weeks in the NICU at Athens Regional (now Piedmont Athens.) And the new mother wasn’t able to hold her daughter for a week.

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