Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Tour

Updated March 05, 2015.

Last week I got an invitation in the mail from my local March of Dimes Chapter. They were inviting me to take a tour of the local Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to see what they were doing with their research and fundraising efforts. I was able to take a few pictures, though they are not amazing photos, the stories are amazing...

Nurses are busy and babies are working hard to grow.

Updated March 05, 2015.

The wait outside the NICU doors was almost as educational as anything I saw on the tour. I have a habit of being early and so I was instructed to wait outside. As you can see these are some pretty thick doors. To enter, you must check in with the receptionist. She takes your picture ID and gets a ton of information, after checking to see that you're on a list of visitors. Then the receptionist calls back to the baby's nurse to see if the baby can have visitors at that moment. Then you're instructed to wait in the waiting room or sent back to be with the baby.
If you are allowed back, you must first gown up and scrub off every single time. This is to prevent you from taking germs into the NICU. Since these are the sickest and smallest babies, their immune systems can't fight off even the mildest infection.

While I sat there I heard many stories. A neonataologist I actually know was talking to a family about their baby girl who had "crashed" just this morning. The doctor was taking his time and explaining what happened, what he had done and what he thought that meant. "We're on the ledge, and while we've stepped back a bit, I'd like to be further away..."

Another family was coming in, they were hoping to take their baby home today. They chatted with some others in the waiting room as they were processing into the NICU. They'd been there since September, their baby boy had been born three months early. They were unprepared for his birth but were now anxious to get him home.

Soon they would know if today was the day...

Updated March 05, 2015.

Once inside, we were shown around the main pod. Currently they are able to offer about 80 square feet per bed or baby. The new recommendations are for there to be about 150 square feet. So they are in the middle of a five stage remodel. There are three NICUs in the city where I live, but this one sees all of the surgical cases. They even had a small surgery room in the NICU where anesthesia comes to do the surgeries and if the baby is too sick or too small to move, they will do surgery at the bedside. This hospital takes babies from a multiple state area. They were one of the first and still only in our state to do extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

Updated March 05, 2015.

They are building new single bed pods. They have one section open with 10 beds. So the family has their own small space, including a bunk, TV, breast pump, Kangaroo chair for skin to skin and more. This is how the entire unit will look when done. They also opened up a new family room that includes a kitchen, area to play for kids, showers and even a washer and dryer!
It was obvious the love and care that went into designing these areas.

We even have had friends who have had the benefit of the new pod for single beds. If you have to be in the NICU, you want to have some privacy.