NICU Awareness Month-Sept. 2018

NICU Awareness Month

NICU Awareness Month is celebrated/recognized in the month of September. 

I never really knew anything about the NICU until I experienced it for myself. My oldest niece was born premature and spent time in the NICU, but I was too young to visit her in the NICU. I had to sit in the waiting room, so I did not know what the NICU department consisted of.

My daughter was born two months early at 32 weeks and spent time in the NICU.  (I will also share this in my pregnancy journey post).  The NICU can be scary because your baby is staying in the hospital, hooked up to machines, you’re still trying to understand everything and you’re sent home. I was recovering from a c-section, going through my own emotional battle, while my baby was being taken care of in the NICU. I made sure to visit my baby and so did her dad. She stayed in the hospital for three weeks and did not have many complications.

The NICU is full of many different journeys for different reasons, but once you have spent time there, you will forever be affected. I am so thankful for the nurses and the doctors that took care of her. We have not made our way back to visit, but planning to. I always say a prayer for the babies, the parents, nurses and doctors.

If you know someone who has a baby in NICU, the most important thing I have learned is to have SUPPORT!!!

I’m thankful for the support I had from my parents, friends, and her dad. It is also important as parents to process our emotions and seek counseling and join support groups as needed.

Ways To Be Supportive:

• Pray and Be Positive
• Cook a meal-help with daily tasks
• If parents allow, stay with/check on baby in the NICU and give parents some time to recoup.
• Be a listening ear

Here are a few facts for NICU Awareness:

• NICU stands for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
• The first neonatal units did not appear in American hospitals until 1922.
• A French obstetrician, Pierre-Constant Budin was a pioneer for the care of at risks babies.
• Dr. Louis Gluck is considered the father of neonatology. Through research he discovered that babies can get sick from healthy adults and infections were more likely caused by poor hand washing.
• Family involvement was encouraged in the 1970s instead of relying on just machines.

Have you had an experience with the NICU? If so please feel free to share.

Source:  A Brief History of Advances in Neonatal Care

Another post to check out facts on NICU is 10 Fascinating Facts About the NICU