Tonya Motley still thinks about her own babies fighting to live as she cuddles the tiny ones who need her love at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins.
Motley has her own history with PVH’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, what she and other medical professionals call the NICU. She was born two months early and became the first baby at PVH to be placed in an isolette, a clear plastic crib that provides a warm environment free from germs. When she had her own babies, twin girls, in 1996, they spent a week in the NICU as well. They’re half the reason why she volunteers her time with other preemies in the NICU: She wishes the cuddling program existed when she had her own.
“I was exhausted,” says Motley, who lives in Timnath. “Getting here for two feedings a day was all I could do.”…