RMH

Michelle shares her experience in the Ronald McDonald House Toronto Family Room at Markham Stouffville Hospital, shortly after giving birth to Caleb, her second child.

“My initial interaction was fantastic, just coming through the door. The Family Room has a nice atmosphere, and it just brought the stress level down completely. 

To be able to have a space to have a cup of tea and take a load off before you even enter the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) portion of Markham Stouffville Hospital was really neat. 

Our other child is three years old. She was born at 28 weeks and we had her at a NICU as well for three months. Having a Family Room then would have been amazing. After that long, you need a place to rest, even to have a fridge to put your lunch in so you’re not eating junk all the time. You are able to take care of your body, especially when you are burnt out and tired. This experience has been less stressful because we can take care of ourselves better. 

The experience of having a sick baby or a pre-term baby is so unique in the sense that you don’t get to bring your baby home and it’s not natural. So the more comforts you can experience, like the Family Room, being able to put good food in your body, just have a volunteer to talk to when you are feeling down – I just feel that anything helps. 

The better you are cared for as a parent and family, the better the babies are cared for and the sooner the baby can get home. I certainly think there is a correlation between having healthy parents and healthy babies.”