Dear Newborn Diary: "Your mommy is already changing your diaper and breastfeeding you. You're doing great."

The sixth floor of the San Carlos Clinical Hospital seems different from the rest. In one area, there's a bit more peace and quiet, absent the typical hustle and bustle of patients and family members, despite the fact that its doors are open 24 hours a day . This semi-silence is occasionally interrupted by the cry of a baby. The decor is also extraordinary: walls painted with murals of animals, stars, and, most importantly, photographs of the main protagonists of this place: the newborns who have passed through these halls and who today are children who continue to grow and learn new things.

It seems like any other Friday in the neonatology department of this Madrid center . But it's not just another day for Rosemary and Emmanuel , who have seen for the first time how their son has been able to eat alone , without the need for a feeding tube or any other aid. The emotion is evident in their eyes and in their smiles, which widen as they show how Andrés Ignacio has grown in just over two months. During these moments, it seems as if the difficult weeks they have left behind no longer weigh so heavily, and thanks to a hospital program, they will always have a diary recorded in whose pages everything that happened is recounted.

This chapter in the young family's story began in November, when they learned of the arrival of this long-awaited baby. Everything was going well until, during the 20th ultrasound, the doctor's face changed. The cervix had dilated, and the sac that holds, protects, and nourishes the baby was emerging. The baby's viability "was low." Furthermore, they knew this firsthand: both are doctors, and Rosemary had seen premature babies born, which is even more worrying because they have all the possible complications in mind. "Sometimes knowledge is a virtue, but under certain conditions, it's a misfortune," Emmanuel emphasizes.

"That's when our troubles began, the discomfort, the anxiety , the depression ... everything came crashing down ," the father recalls. Thus began the hospital stays, combined with a few weeks at home until they reached week 27 of pregnancy: on April 24th at 11:45 a.m. , Andrés Ignacio was born, weighing just 1,200 grams .

"The father went up with the doctors and saw everything they were doing to the baby, but I had to stay downstairs because they were still treating me." When she finally got to the room where her son was, she remembers that her face was too thick because of the amount of wires and medical instruments he had. " It was a shock ; I was in such a state of shock ," Rosemary recalls.

The first few days were critical : he suffered septic shock , was intubated for 15 days, and even took medication to keep his heart beating . Each of them had a different strategy: he preferred to know and ask everything, even the smallest details; she, on the other hand, chose to put aside her gown and just be a mother.

But there was one thing they all agreed on: you have to take it one day at a time and celebrate the small steps forward, like when the wires were getting fewer and fewer , when he stopped relying on oxygen (which was "wonderful"), and when they removed the tube. They also have to worry about every complication the child was experiencing. All of this meant they've been on a roller coaster for more than 60 days.

"We reached a point where, as a defense mechanism, we began to block certain processes that occurred during or after birth. Suddenly, we forgot because we were already focused on something specific happening that day," Emmanuel recalls. Rosemary, for her part, insists that without the diary they are filling out, "we wouldn't remember everything we experienced." This notebook is part of a program to improve the psychological and emotional health of families of babies hospitalized in the intensive care unit, which often houses extremely premature babies, children with malformations requiring surgery, and others with brain damage .

Isabel Cuellar , a clinical psychologist in the neonatology department at the San Carlos Clinical Hospital, explains that the so-called NICU ( Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ) Diaries are memory books in which families, and sometimes professionals, write and note down aspects related to the experience, changes that have occurred in the baby, and also other elements such as photographs and drawings.

Andrés Ignacio's diary has all of that. When his parents received it, it was already personalized with his name and some information like his date of birth, weight, height, and so on. The nursing department takes care of that, but since then, they've filled it with sketches of elephants and other animals , notes from the specialists who have seen him, the medications he's been prescribed over the past few weeks, and his measurements.

But there's also time to explain how they feel. For example, on June 4th, they wrote to him that he was getting more handsome every day and that they were so proud of how strong and brave he had been and was continuing to be. The day before, he received a visit from an ophthalmologist who discharged him, so they were "very happy." "Your mommy is already changing your diaper, giving you massages, and breastfeeding you . Although you're not sucking much, you're doing very well. Today they removed your nasal prongs," Emmanuel reads, directly from the diary, which they will treasure to give to their little boy in a few years.

The day they spoke with El Confidencial, as mentioned above, was very special. For the first time, their baby was breastfeeding alone, without any outside help. "We're very happy. It's truly a moment we didn't think would come; we're almost ready to go home, " Rosemary insists.

Both comment that, although Andrés Ignacio's possible crying makes them a little nervous, they remain calm if the only problem is figuring out the reason for his tears. "He's crying, but I'm happy because normal children do that," Emmanuel assures.

They are one of the 40 families that have received this since October NICU Diary , which must remain in the facility throughout the duration of the hospitalization . It's part of a program that focuses on the hospitalized baby's environment, in this case, the intensive care unit.

"Having this record helps integrate an experience that no family is prepared for . It's such an intense situation that having a space to record it makes it easier to process while writing it down and, above all, afterward," the psychologist explains.

This is another initiative of the San Carlos Clinic program, which is based on the approach of psychologically informed environments and aims to incorporate "a sensitive perspective" into care. Other measures include posters with key information, a professional communication course for service staff , and the family school —which Rosemary and Emmanuel have attended—among others.

Mental health can suffer under these circumstances. "Studies show that around 30% of families who have been through neonatology will experience a mental health disorder during the baby's first year of life, which is often related to depression, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Going through this process involves an emotional demand and challenge that, for some, is potentially traumatic due to the separation, the awareness and perception of vulnerability, and having a seriously ill child. Many families are aware that they may die , develop an illness, or a disability ," this expert summarizes.