NICUs, Nightmares, and Other Preemie Stuff

https://www.cimit.org

Monitors beeping. Foot steps. Hushed tones. Greetings.Typing. Carts rolling. Knocking. Crying. Laughing.

These are the many sounds of the NICU, or the neonatal intensive care unit which serves as a temporary home to preemies. Here, they well stay with many other small infants with a medical staff tending to them 24 hours a day, until they are determined healthy enough to go home.Their stay can last for a few days or many months. I interviewed a nurse and Rush Hospital who showed me around the NICU and told me about her experiences. She has a preemie who was a giant (by nicu standards)who was born at about 8.5 lbs. Because he was born early he faced complications. His mom was overweight and face issues with gestational diabetes causing her deliver the baby early. Even though he was a really big baby visually, he had underdeveloped lungs and other body systems had yet to catch up with his massive size. Another baby I saw was born at just 23 weeks, his name was Michael and he his room was kept dark and his ocelot, moist , to recreate the feeling of being in the womb. 

His tiny chest rose and fell , matching the rate of the breathing machine that did most of his breathing for him throughout the day. His little fingers wrapped around the respirator, he mostly slept. NICUs have many different different set ups but the all include a nurses station, a work up area for quick procedures and checkups, baby areas (closed or open), and a family room. Anything in addition to these are location dependent. In the NICU neonatologists run the show. A neonatologist, which are specially trained pediatricians to work with neonates and communicate with their parents. However, these physicians never do it alone, the NICU has a team of medical professionals assembled to assist and insure the welfare of these tiny humans. We will learn more about the medical teams and technology in my next post.