Photo shoot of babies in the NICU at Fayetteville's Cape Fear Valley: A special tribute to mothers

The babies created a sensation this past weekend on the Facebook page for Cape Fear Valley Health System.

And for good reason: They are tiny bundles of joy, infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or NICU. They were surrounded by flowers and blankets — some born premature, some with other health challenges.

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Cape Fear Valley posted the pictures as a Mother’s Day greeting, with the permission of the babies’ parents. Jasmine Brunson, a nurse in the NICU unit for three years, whose side gig is Tiny Visuals Photography, took the pictures for free.

Roxana Ross, spokeswoman for the health system, says the photo shoot carries on a tradition the hospital has offered to parents of NICU children during holidays.

‘We run on their time’

I asked Brunson what were some challenges to photographing such young subjects.

“We run on their time,” she says with a laugh. “They’re the boss of the photo shoot.”

She says she makes sure the babies have a calm, warm environment and are comfortable and fed: “Usually, they’ll go right back to sleep.”

‘We try to spread joy’

Brunson, a mother of boys 9 and 6, has been pleased with the online response the babies’ photos.

“I think that it’s really important to honor mothers on this day, and more specifically in the NICU,” she says. “Because it can be difficult for the parents to be separated from their babies, especially during the holidays, and they aren’t able to take the traditional photos as if they were at the house.

“So we try to spread joy and provide the families with memories.”

What it’s all about

My son Samuel was a NICU baby; he’s 11 now. We have a couple of photos where he is wearing his cannula to help him breathe, with all the leads attached to him, sleeping serenely.

For moms and dads who have had the NICU experience, it is both different and the same as with our kids born without any need for additional medical assistance.

It’s all love, either way.

Brunson’s pictures capture it all.

Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Photo shoot of babies in the NICU at Fayetteville's Cape Fear Valley: A special tribute to mothers