MainSqueeze

Our family has a very personal connection to this year’s cause. Our daughter Sadie was born two months early at 32 weeks, weighing only 2 lbs. She spent over a month in the NICU, first at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. While she was there, we had access to NICView — a small camera that let us see her from our phones when we couldn’t be at the hospital.

It may seem like a small thing, but during a NICU stay, it meant so much. We could check in on her, and grandparents and other family members who couldn’t visit — including those living in other provinces — could still see her and feel connected to her, even when they couldn’t be there in person.

When Sadie was later transferred to the Grey Nuns Hospital, NICView wasn’t available. Having experienced both, we saw firsthand just how much that sense of connection can mean to NICU families.

That’s why this year’s Lemonade Stand Day means so much to our family. The money raised will help provide NICView cameras to more neonatal intensive care units across northern Alberta, giving more families the ability to see their babies when they can’t physically be there.

Today, Sadie is our happy, healthy little girl, and she’ll be joining her big brothers, Max and Kaysen, as one of our Junior Lemon Squeezers. We’re incredibly excited to support something that meant so much to our family when we needed it most.