Newborn ICU

               The evening of Samuel’s birth, it was decided to admit him into the Newborn Intensive Care Unit.  Samuel had low oxygen saturation levels and he was hypoglycemic.  Low blood sugar doesn’t sound dangerous, right?  I didn’t think so.  In newborns it can be because blood sugar is constantly feeding their growing brains, and large babies, which Samuel was, have a tendency to use their sugars faster.  If hypoglycemia is left untreated it can cause permanent brain damage.

All the equipment.  Crazy, huh?

                I was only able to see and hold Samuel twice, for short periods of time, before he was taken to the NICU.  Once he was admitted into the NICU I didn’t get to see him again until the afternoon of the next day, and I didn’t get to hold him again until a couple days after that.  It was particularly hard for me to have Samuel in the NICU, especially when I was discharged to go home without him.  I was struggling to understand why Samuel needed to be in the NICU.  The doctors used all sorts of medical words that I didn’t understand.

Some of the battle scars.

                I recall when I first went up to see Samuel; he looked like a giant compared to all the other babies.  But it still broke my heart to see him covered in wires, all connected to unfamiliar monitors and machines. I was so nervous to touch him for fear of the mass amount of wires.  And he had so many scabs from attempts at IV’s and routine glucose tests.  Because they were unable to get an IV in his foot, head, umbilical cord or anywhere else, the doctor decided to insert a picc line.  It inserted at his foot and then traveled up a vein and stopped right next to his tiny heart.  At first, Samuel was receiving 17 ml of sugars per hour through the picc line, and he couldn’t go home until it was down to 1 ml per hour, for 24 hours.

Photographed by Amanda Black; Edited by Jamie Allen

                AJ and I were both so exhausted and worried about the effects our baby might suffer.  It was a trying time.  Samuel also had to have a feeding tube down his nose, and I had to pump milk all the time so they had food for him.  We were both so thrilled when they allowed Samuel to start nursing.  This is when he started to improve dramatically- we were all so thankful.  Samuel also had jaundice during his NICU stay, so he had to be under the bilirubin lights. In order to protect his eyes, he had a tiny pair of goggles that he had to wear.  He hated them!  And he was quite the pro at getting them off his little eyes.

                Our little boy spent the first six days of his life in the Newborn ICU.  It was a relief to finally bring him home.  We are forever grateful to the wonderful nurses and doctors, who cared for our son during his stay in the NICU. 

Sucking on Daddy's finger.  Photographed by Amanda Black; Edited by Jamie Allen