Preemies: Little Warriors with Superhuman Strength

The Art of Resilience

Preemies arrive early, small, fragile, and surrounded by monitors, tubes, and alarms. Every parent knows that first sight in the NICU can feel like your world has just shattered. I know this firsthand.

I am here to tell you though, that feeling "broken" doesn’t mean ruined. It’s precious. It’s powerful. It’s Kintsugi.

For those of you who have never heard of Kintsugi- it is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. Instead of hiding the cracks, artists flaunt them—transforming what was once broken into something more beautiful. The philosophy is simple: what is broken is not worthless. What is scarred is precious. It tells a story.

For preemies, every day and every milestone leaves a mark. Those marks? They are gold. They tell a story of survival, courage, and love.

Neurodevelopmental Miracles

The science backs it up: preemies are wired to fight, to adapt, to thrive. Their brains are remarkably plastic, forming neural pathways faster than most adults can even comprehend. Every touch, every cuddle, every gentle heartbeat against your chest fosters brain growth, strengthens connections, and builds resilience.

Skin-to-skin contact, also known as “kangaroo care”, is more than comfort—it’s life-changing. Studies show that babies who experience consistent touch from their parents stabilize faster, regulate their own temperature, and even score higher on neurodevelopmental milestones later in life. (Stanford Medicine)

Every milestone is gold in their cracks. Every whispered lullaby, every heartbeat, every tiny triumph—feeding, breathing, gaining ounces—is a stroke of Kintsugi. It’s the art of survival, built with love.

The Superhuman Strength of Preemies

Preemie journeys are unplanned, unpredictable, and often misunderstood by onlookers who ask, “What happened?”.

This automatic reaction from others is often (although usually well-meaning) dramatic, fear-based, or fueled by pity. But those responses miss the truth: these babies are extraordinary! Every scar, every medical intervention, every sleepless night you endured as a parent—these are the gold lines of your story. They mark growth, courage, and love that cannot be measured.

The Parent Perspective

The NICU transforms parents, too. You learn to advocate, to fight, to breathe through fear. You discover strengths you didn’t know existed. Your heart grows in ways that textbooks could never teach. Like Kintsugi, your story is marked by the cracks, and those cracks shine with gold.

Embracing the Story

Preemies challenge our expectations, our control, our definitions of “normal.” But their story—your story—is gilded.

Look at the cracks. See the gold. Notice how far you’ve come. Notice how far they’ve come.