NICU Survival

Your first experience in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) will no doubt be a scary one.  It may be a very intense situation but once you understand what is going on, it will seem a lot less frightening.  Once arriving in the NICU, you must scrub your arms and hands.  Some NICU’s have specific gowns for you to wear.  This step is crucial in keeping the unit and environment as clean as possible.  Keep noises down to a minimum for you child and other patients comfort.  Just relax and enjoy your visits with your child.  As hard as it may be, just be sure to take care of yourself.  Your well being is just as important.  If you are well rested, you will be better prepared to take care of your new baby.  It may be a difficult ride, but rewarding when you are watching your child progress daily.

Various test will be ordered such as blood work, urine samples, X-Ray, ultrasounds, etc.  The doctors will sometimes place a line in an artery to avoid multiple stickings to draw blood.  This is much easier and comfortable for your baby. -Twintastic!

Emily and Audrey's Story

I was so excited the day I learned I was expecting twins. It was amazing. I had so much to do and I did not know where to start. When I was about 18 weeks, it was confirmed that I was having 2 girls. I was so excited because I had a 3 year old son and having girls would be awesome. Shortly after that, I was seeing the perinatologist due to the twin pregnancy. The girls were starting to show a small difference in size. They weren't so concerned at the beginning, but visit after visit, they were growing farther apart. They ended up with close to a 50% size difference. The doctors said that I must stay in the hospital for the remainder of my pregnancy to be closely monitored with daily Non Stress Tests. I was not looking forward to that because I was only 25 weeks along. That was a long time to spend in the hospital and away from my family but I knew if it would help the girls, it would be worth it. After 1 week, I went to see the perinatologist again and he said Baby A's blood flow had reversed in the cord and that she had only about 72 hours to live. I was devastated. They were going to have me deliver that day but I decided to wait it out and try to give them both the best chance. I was only 26 weeks. At that point, I was on 2 NST's a day and also a BioPhysical Profile every day. I was a nervous wreck everytime I had an ultrasound not knowing that it may be the day that we not find Audrey's heartbeat. Exactly one week later, I saw the perinatologist again and this time he said she was starting to show signs of fetal distress. At this point, we decided to deliver because of the position of the placentas, we did not know if they were connected in any way and if they were, if something were to happen to Audrey the doctors did not know if it would affect Emily as well. Also, the babies switched positions on us so Baby A became B and B became A. I was wheeled to the operating room not knowing what was going to happen in the next short while. At 5:12pm Emily Grace was born weighing in at 2lbs .8 oz and 14 1/4 inches long. At 5:13pm Audrey Faith was born weighing 1 lb 2.4oz and 11 3/4 inches long. I was so scared for them. The first night was uneventful and so was the second. By the third day, they had to put Audrey on the oscillator because the convention ventilator was not working for her. They had numerous blood transfusions due to all the blood drawing. They both had chronic lung disease, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and were on the ventilators for a while. The second week, they both had head ultrasounds and both showed a Grade 4 brain bleed. Emily was bilateral and Audrey's was just on the left side. Emily's bleed did cause hydrocephalus, which required a shunt. Emily had one seizure while in the NICU but the rest of her stay was uneventful and came home before their due date on July 29, the day before my birthday. Audrey had more obstacles being so small. She ended up having 5 chest tubes in her first month of her life due to collapsed lungs. When she was about 6 weeks old, we got the call to come to the hospital because Audrey was declining and they did not know if she was going to make it. I was devastated. But we realized that day that our little girl was a true fighter. She overcame that and fought on. When she was about 9 weeks old she was transferred to Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans due to her liver issues. We did not have a pediatric gastro doctor locally so she had to go there. While she was there she got a liver biopsy, which showed she a Necrosis of the liver, also developed pneumonia, got MRSA Staph Infection and a fractured rib from her experience there. She was there until after Hurricane Katrina hit and had to be evacuated. The day before the hurricane hit, she stopped breathing and had to be put back on the ventilator. She went to another hospital in South Louisiana and the first thing they did was pull the ventilator and put her on VapoTherm and has not been on a ventilator since. After two weeks at the other hospital, she was transferred back to our local hospital. The nurses were so excited to have her back and were so glad to see how much she has grown. Two weeks later, she came home. She arrived home on October 3, 145 days after she was born and is improving daily. She came home on about 10 medications for various things and now is only on 4. She is growing up so fast and so is Emily. They still have so much to overcome due to their extreme prematurity but are doing so much better. They impress me everyday.  They are truly the lights of our life.