NICU Planner and Journal: notes for rounds, a plain-language glossary, the long hallway
Forty-eight pages for parents in the NICU. A daily log to bring to rounds. A glossary of the terms the team uses without translating. A page for the partner who is also grieving. A "what I want for my baby today" page. A pumping companion (if you are). A page for the day you go home. A page for the day you do not. Dignified, honest, not somber.
Instant download. Print at home on A4 or US Letter. Your receipt and re-download link arrive by email.
Look inside
Pages from the file you'll download, not a mock-up.
The NICU is a country you did not know existed until you were in it. The terminology is its own language. The hours are unstuck from the calendar. The doctors are doing rounds at 6am and you missed them because you were trying to sleep on a recliner.
This planner is for that country. It is not medical. It is not a clinical guide. It is a place to write down what you saw today, what the team said, what you don’t yet understand, and what you want for the baby in the next twenty-four hours.
It is also for the version of you you did not plan to be. The NICU parent. The one in the long hallway, holding a coffee you forgot to drink.
What’s inside
Forty-eight pages, undated:
- The daily log. What the team said at rounds. Vitals you wrote down. Weight. Feed amount. The one number that mattered today.
- A glossary of the most common NICU terms in plain language. Apnea. Bradycardia. CPAP. PICC. NG. Each in two sentences. So you don’t have to nod.
- A “questions for the team” page, redone each week. So when rounds happen, you have something written.
- A pumping companion, six pages, if you are pumping for a NICU baby. Schedule. Output log. Reminders that “low” early is normal.
- A page for the partner, who is also grieving. Often grieving differently. With different things they cannot say.
- A “what I want for my baby today” page. One small wish per day. Skin-to-skin if they’re stable. A feed by mouth. A quieter alarm. The wish doesn’t have to come true. The writing is the work.
- The phone-list page. The NICU’s number. Your social worker. The lactation consultant. Your OB. A friend who can hold the older sibling at home.
- A page for the day you go home. What was last said. What you carried out with you. The first night home page.
- A page for the day you do not, if that is the way this story goes. We do not assume one ending or the other.
- A “month after” page. For the version of you that is not yet the version of you reading this now.
Before you buy
This is a companion, not a medical document. If you are in crisis, please call 988 (US Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). The US Maternal Mental Health Hotline is 1-833-852-6262, 24/7, free, confidential, and supports NICU parents specifically. Hand to Hold (handtohold.org) is a NICU-parent peer-support nonprofit, free.
Format
Instant-download PDF, US Letter + A4. Print one section at a time if it’s easier. Personal use only.
From Soothemade Notes, a small apothecary of printables, planners, and cards for the unphotographed parts of new parenthood. Made slowly, in plain language. Not medical advice.
