| The Hospital: Overview |
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After the shock of delivering a premature baby, you often have an
even bigger shock when you first get introduced to NICU and the first time get to see your baby amongst a whole lot of
drips, wires and monitors. In this section we hope to demystify the hospital experience. Read more about the following:
"Our Boys were each lying in a warmer. They both had a temperature probe on their tummies. They were naked apart from a nappy. The temperature probe was attached to the warming bed they were lying in. When they got warm, the bed cooled off, and when they cooled down, it warmed up again. They were kept at an almost constant temperature, allowing them to save their energy for growing and getting well. They were both on monitors that check their heart rate, breathing and blood pressure. The monitors sound off an alarm when their is a problem These monitors go off all the time and it can be worrying when your babies monitor goes off while you are there and the nurses come rushing over to check. All of the babies in the NICU are on monitors. It can get quite busy! Each baby was also ventilated. A breathing tube passed through their nose and down passed their vocal cords and was attached on the other end to a respirator. Our babies need assistance with breathing. The respirator "breathes" for the babies. There is a setting on the respirator for the amount of assisted breathes per minute they were getting and another setting for the amount of oxygen they were to receive. Some babies in NICU were on CPAP, others on nasal canula. A probe attached to their feet checked their oxygen level constantly through a pulse oximeter. The oxygen saturation level is monitored and if they need extra oxygen the monitor would show a saturation level drop from 100% to 80%. At this point the monitor's alarm would go off and the nurse would increase the oxygen level on the respirator by 5% to help the baby's saturation to get back up to 100%. The amount of oxygen a baby receives would be indicated by their saturation level. Most term babies saturate at 100% on normal room air. Premature babies usually need extra oxygen. The amount of oxygen your baby is receiving indicates his level of stress. 60% oxygen is not good...if the nurses see they are saturating on 98% they will turn the oxygen down a bit by 5% and see if they can cope. Extra oxygen is directly related to ROP (Retinopathy of Prematurity) which can result in blindness. The nurses are always "weaning" these tiny babies off their oxygen because of this. When a baby is ill, he has to fight an infection, if he needs an operation, he needs to spend extra energy on recovering, even a feed can tire a baby to the point of desaturation. There are phototherapy lights over the warmers that are used for babies with jaundice. Most premature babies spend some time under these lights. They wore masks to protect their eyes from the light which can damage their little eyes and cause ROP. Each baby was cocooned with a roll of blanket that went right around their body to make them feel more secure. Both our boys had an IV in their foot or arm. The IV would be moved from foot to foot, to arm until a Broviac could be placed. Premature babies need antibiotics and extra fluid which they receive through the IV, and they may need to draw blood specimens every other day. After a couple of weeks these babies veins are "used" up and the nurses struggle to find a vein for an IV. The IV can also be placed in the head which means they have to shave some of their hair off. The Broviac is a permanent IV line and saves some needling and pricks required for putting up temporary IV's. The nurses in NICU are specialized in neonatology and undergo specific training in the care of critically ill, premature and newborn babies. They are highly skilled and follow instructions from the pediatrician who will visit the babies twice per day or more. The pediatrician will also be available anytime an emergency arises. The NICU staff change shifts every day at around 7a.m. and 7 p.m. The new shift gets a rundown on the little patients progress, with instructions of the care to be given. The nurses do not always get the same patient to work with, so each day you might see a new face and get to know a different nurse." Here is what to you can expect to see:  |