Healing Mother Tends to Neonatal ICU

By Jacqueline Sit, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Many parents will spend Christmas praying for the health of their newborn baby, and mother Jessica Herbinger knows the feeling all too well.

During this holiday season, Herbinger brings gifts to and visits with the expecting parents in the neonatal ICU where premature babies are tended for.

"It's nice to have someone bring us some things to lift up our spirits," mother Christina Norton said. "Just to know that someone's thinking about us and someone's been through the same thing."

Herbinger's twins, Jadlyn and Braxtan, were admitted into the neonatal ICU when they were born, but unfortunately, one of the twins didn't live.

"Knowing she's not suffering at all is what I have to be OK with right now," Herbinger said. "I don't think I'm going to be totally over it. I'm going to miss her with all my heart as both my husband and I will."

As she fights her emotional battle, she continues to count her blessings with Braxtan.

By giving gifts to other mothers with children in the ICU, Herbinger wants to bring a sense of hope.

"There's no way for me to take away any pain, and good days, bad days. This isn't going to heal their child. This may put a happy thought in their head for 30 seconds to a minute, it may allow them to focus on the positive when there may not be a lot of positive to focus on," Herbinger said.

Braxtan will be eight-months-old on Christmas Eve, a milestone Herbinger continues to remember and appreciate.