UpBring was born following the birth of my first child and realized that parenting was a never ending journey of finding the right products for the right milestone that were specific for my child’s needs. I vowed to help parents navigate different stages of a child's development and answer the never ending question of "do I have the right (insert product here)". Our kits cover the major milestones with a variety of products, so parents are never caught off guard with what they "need" for the journey. But Milo's heart journey taught us a lot more about what UpBring can be.
And while some things we at UpBring can easily outline and help you plan for, we understand there are so many moments that are unexpected.
You can view all of our UpBring kits here.
Shortly after launching UpBring, I learned I was pregnant with baby #2. I was excited, nervous, hopeful, all the emotions that come along with adding one more to your crew. A few weeks later at a routine anatomy scan, I also learned my baby would be born with a critical heart condition that would require surgery.
On October 18, 2021, I gave birth to our son, Milo Sam Kiser. Two days following his birth, Milo had open heart surgery to fix a critical congenital heart defect, Coarctation of the Aorta. Coarctation of the Aorta is a birth defect in which a part of the aorta, the tube that carries oxygen-rich blood to the body, is narrower than usual. Without the detection of this defect and immediate surgery, Milo wouldn't be part of our lives today.
Even with knowing about Milo's condition and having multiple consults with doctors before Milo's delivery date, nothing could have prepared me for the experience of having a sick child who needs urgent surgery to save his life.
As parents, we often function in a world where we can assign certain items to fix a certain problem. We go down endless rabbit holes on the internet to find the perfect products to fix our problems or buy online courses from influencers and experts to teach us how to sleep train our babies.
The biggest takeaway from this experience is that no matter how much you prepare, there is always something new to work through.
UpBring helps parents through the unchartered territories of product purchasing, but we also want to help parents with some of the blurrier parts of parenting.
For UpBring, 2022 will be a year of sharing valuable content, navigating the blurry parts of parenting while providing our tried and true kits – as well as new ones – that solve real problems.
While spending time in the NICU, we created new product offerings that we know others will find useful. While nothing can prepare parents for a NICU stay, UpBring is determined to provide a line of products that can help simplify certain aspects and guide you/support you.
We are so grateful for YOU, our UpBring community of friends and family, and we are excited to see where 2022 takes us.
AN UPDATE ON MILO: Milo is now 1 month post surgery and doing great! He remained in the Infant Cardiac Intensive Care Unit for just over 1 week and then came home for all the snuggles we could give! He is especially loved on by his big sister Quinn...who loves him a little too much sometimes (lots of requests to hold him, hug him, and kiss him). We can't wait to celebrate many moments together!
