Reddit reviews The Littlest Peanut: An Inspirational NICU Baby Book for both journaling and tracking milestones in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Yep - your birth story sounds just like mine..... Almost exactly. My son was born at 31+4 at 3 lbs 7oz. I too felt like crap due to pre-e. I had dragged myself to work that day, then got a call from my doctor personally asking me to come in.... That was 3pm. I had my son at 7:40. Surreal - even 4 months later.

It took me two full days of pumping to get any colostrum, then weeks to build my supply fully up. So don't give up hope. It will just take a bit for your body to get the message.

Your LO will be in the NICU for a while, my son was in for 7 weeks. My NICU keeps them until they are able to eat 100% of their milk by bottle or breast. My son worked on that for the last several weeks.

People will probably be asking what they can do to help - and from a mom that just recently went through this you will need the following things (it helps to have a list thought out)

• A Pumping bra if you don't already have one (Simple wishes is my favorite)
  
  
• A good water bottle (you will drink so much water while breastfeeding)
  
  
• Gift cards to fast casual restaurants/gift card to the hospital cafeteria
  
  
• A small lunch size insulated bag to keep your pump parts in and to transport your milk to the hospital with a good cooling pack. (the rubbermaid blue ice ones keep frozen the longest)
  
  
• A Netflix/Amazon Prime streaming subscription!!! You will be pumping a lot - and it is boring in the middle of the night (guess what I'm doing now?)
  
  
• Help with pets/snow removal/house cleaning (we had a friend mow and it was the best thing ever)
  
  
• Gift card for gas! (our drive was 30 mins too and we went through a lot of gas)
  
  
• There is also a book I found that has milestones for NICU babies. I LOVED it - it helped me keep track of his progress and is really cute. http://www.amazon.com/The-Littlest-Peanut-Milestone-Babybook/dp/1612540236
  
  
  There is also a subreddit /r/NICUParents
  
  I hope your daughter continues to do well - it certainly sounds like she is doing great right now :) Holding her for the first time will be so amazing - it just made my heart melt. Let me know if you have any questions from another mom that just went through this same thing.
  

On the topic of really useful care package items -

Hand sanitizer. Trust me, they will bathe in it now and a couple of months after kiddo comes home.

A reusable beverage cup - think the plastic versions of fast-food drink cups. This was a life saver because yes, hospital air is dry, and when you're nursing or holding a baby it's much easier to sip through a straw than maneuver yourself/baby/recliner to such a way that you can tilt your head back to drink.

Preemie diapers and/or coupons for such. They were so effing hard to find!

Additionally, I would've loved to get this book. It was clearly made by folks who "get it" - my baby book doesn't cover most of my little's first, and biggest, accomplishments!

http://www.amazon.com/reader/1612540236?_encoding=UTF8&page=9