The NICU didn't just save my son—it saved his terrified parents, too nicuawarenessmonth
I wasn’t in labour but, one way or another, I was going to deliver our second child that very day. I looked away as the nurse ran the steroid drip into my vein, to stimulate contractions, and strapped monitors on my lower and upper belly, left arm, and finger tip, whilescared me more than the thought of our infant being born with medical complications. To me the NICU was like a haunted house I couldn’t bear to enter.
But not two hours passed before the on-call pediatrician informed us that our son was not all well. His blood sugar level, already below normal range at birth, had plummeted to almost nothing in the short time since he had been born, and he was diagnosed as severely hypoglycemic—at risk for seizures and brain injury—requiring immediate medical intervention. He was whisked away to the NICU.
But as my husband and I sat there through that long, painful first postpartum night, taking turns holding our son under our hospital gowns to feel his skin against ours and help stabilize his blood sugar level, my perspective blurred, then shifted.
For instance, because our preemie could not suck as effectively as a full-term baby, getting adequate nutrition was a major concern, and a real challenge for me trying to breastfeed. But the NICU nurses, doctors, and lactation consultant helped ensure that our baby was eating properly, and showed us simple ways to tell if his food intake was adequate each day, in order for him to grow and be healthy.
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