Sunday, March 14, 2010

The NICU


I came in last night and the nursing supervisor asked me if I had ever worked in the NICU.  Uhhh.....nope, the regular newborn nursery but not the NICU. But hey, I'm up for anything as long as they understand that I can only do so much.
 
I get over there and they are greatful for the help.  They have only 3 nurses on and have a total of 5 babies with 2 on the way.  A drug withdrawal baby that screams a lot, a set of feeder & grower twins that were born at 33 weeks, a bruiser of a 10lb baby that aspirated meconium at birth and a set of 29 weeker twins that were born yesterday and were quite unstable (1 of who was about to be shipped to a tertiary hospital).  The two on the way are a set of 34 week twins on CPAP. 
 
While they worked I got to do the fun stuff....sit in a rocker and feed!!  I ended up being there 5 hours and fed the drug baby twice and the feeder & grower set of twins once.  What a joy to sit there in a chair and feed a baby for a job!!  It felt like I was at a different place.  I had to remind myself I was even at work!!
 

At the end I got to watch them give surfactant to the other 29 weeker.  A pretty neat experience since I had heard about it lots of times but didn't really know how it was given.  Also my nephew was given it at birth, so now I know what he went thru.  He's quite the sick little boy (the 29 weeker, not my nephew) so hopefully he will do well, though I have my doubts I'm sad to say.
 
All in all it was a pretty neat experience.  One I'll do again if asked! 

8 comments:

Saribel Alvarez said...

totally awesome experience, god bless you and everyday you are a caregiver and more!

SharonRN said...

Never minded pulling a NICU double shift if I could feed the babies!

aries said...

Caring for babies is a joyful experience, but seeing them in unhealthy conditions like receiving surfactant to mature their lungs are really heart breaking :(
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Anne said...

I agree with aries said... very difficult for nursing a baby! There life depend on the shoulder who caring on that time.

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Dick Lame said...

I could work in a nursery I suppose, but I'd draw the line there; NICU and PICU - you can have it. There was something sad and depressing being at a PICU during the clinical portion at school - maybe it's a fatherhood thing, having to do with sick children. I'm much happier in geriatrics. :) Your experience however sounds like it was quite nice.

nursenrecovery said...

Hi. I am a nurse who suffered from narcotic addiction. I am in recovery now. I have developed a website specifically to help nurses who are struggling with an addiction. I have included things I learned along the way. I feel very strongly about this topic because I believe the problem is worse than people think. And, nurses with an addiction is considered “taboo” . The problem is real and my site is there to provide help and hope. I hope you will add my link to your site.
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Thank you for your time
Michelle

www.nursenrecovery.com

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I got a lot of information about babies.Many thanks for sharing your experience...

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