Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Immonen Ward.
Hi Sarah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am the mother of three NICU miracles. Our twin daughters were born at a gestational age of 28 weeks and spent 2 and a half months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We were unable to hold our children for almost a week and we felt helpless. My husband and I learned that reading to newborns in the NICU helps to soothe, increase neurological development, reduce stress, and aide in parent/baby bonding, so we read to our children every day. We noticed their stats would do better when we read to them, so we continued our routine even after they were released home.
Two years after our girls came home we welcomed our newborn son who also went to the NICU due to breathing difficulties. We chose to read to him every day as well, and he was home within a week. Even though this stay was shorter, it did not take away the feelings of fear, uncertainty, and disappointment. The NICU can be an isolating place and the support we received was invaluable. We felt like we needed to give back to the people who helped bring our babies home safely and we wanted to help other families in the NICU know that they are not alone. This is why we created Little Ward Books.
On World Prematurity Day 2021 we published our keepsake children’s book “Our NICU Journey”. The book was inspired by a poem I wrote the first month our girls were home. It was my way of processing the experience and we used our NICU photos and our medical team members to inspire the illustrations. We felt that rejoicing in every victory, big or small, is so important when caring for a child in the NICU, so we made sure to include keepsake pages. The pages include birth information, special first milestones, and signature pages to remember the ones who cared for you and your child. We also included resources that helped us on our journey including: Beads of Courage®, March of Dimes, Mother’s Milk Bank, and several others. We hope Our NICU Journey will help celebrate YOUR NICU Journey!
Experiencing the NICU can leave parents with some birth trauma. Often families debate on having another child after having unplanned issues with a previous pregnancy. We wanted parents to embrace and enjoy all of the wonderful things that come with accepting that it is their last baby. We look forward to publishing a new book titled “One Step Behind” just in time for mother’s day in 2023 to celebrate the milestones of one’s “last baby” and the beauty of sibling bonds. See our website for updates about our titles, or for ways to give back to the NICU community!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been challenging switching from my career of dental hygiene to a stay at home mom, but creating books is my outlet for coping with what we went through and is rewarding to give hope to new families. Our greatest obstacle was shipping our books. We printed them during the delays after Covid and it took several months to get our books to us and then out to organizations like Beads of Courage®, who sell these books through their shop, beadsofcourage.org/shop. Since then we have been enjoying the feedback from families who have read our book and appreciate each and every review written about our love letter to the NICU community.
One event that was smoother than expected was our Reading Through the NICU Read-A-Thon. This September we hosted a NICU Read-A-Thon and had 15 NICU authors join us for a storytime of their books! We also had many authors donate their ebooks for FREE so parents who did not have books could download them at no cost to read to their children. This event grew faster than expected and we look forward to big things for next year’s Read-A-Thon!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Little Ward Books?
We are a family-owned company who is trying to help others. We are focused on giving back the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) community and supporting our mission of Reading Through the NICU and Beyond! We hope that families enjoy reading together from birth through adulthood. Reading books has wonderful benefits throughout any age and we hope to share that joy with all.
We embrace every victory, big or small, that families face together. We also love celebrating others and connecting/collaborating with fellow authors. We often set our ebook FREE on kindle so parents can download it in the hospital or share with their local NICU. We offer reduced prices for NICU care packages. We were gifted a book on a holiday we spent in the hospital, and it is one of our most loved keepsakes. Receiving something from a complete stranger that had been through the same experience helped us not feel alone and we hope to do that same for others. We are doing a holiday book drive and are amazed at the stacks of books we have received to donate to families in the NICU this Christmas! If you want to give back, please consider donating a book or adding our books to your donation registry!
What were you like growing up?
I was shy and loved to read books as a young child. I also loved to craft and be outdoors. As I got older, I embraced music and played multiple instruments, which helped to bring me out of my shell and allowed me to play in various bands and ministries. I loved to learn new skills and make new friends and this year I joined on as a blog editor for Praying Through Ministries (a ministry for families experiencing the NICU, PICU, and Child Loss). I enjoy being supportive, creative, and helpful by giving back!
Pricing:
- $12.99 Paperback
- $18.99 Hardcover
- $3.99 eBook
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.littlewardbooks.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/sarah_immonen_ward_author
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/littlewardbooks
Image Credits
Arlene Soto with Intricate Design for book mockup
