Basics for NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) Survival

As I lay in the hospital bed at 18 weeks gestation, I looked up every website I could find on prematurity, what it meant and what the chances of my baby's survival were going to be. I had been told that if I made it to 24 weeks the doctors and nurses would take my infant to the NICU and they would try to save his life, but they gave us very little hope. So, between Bible reading and praying I spent week after week staring at the calendar, and studying everything I could about what we were facing.

When the calendar said that we had reached 24 weeks the nurses from the NICU began to visit to try to prepare me for the "roller coaster" that lay ahead. I looked at the tiny doll they held in their hands but could not imagine any human being that tiny. At 26 weeks my precious baby was born, weighing 2lb and 2 oz, soon to lose down to 1 lb and 12 oz.. He would stay under 2 lbs for the next 6 weeks. What I saw upon my first visit to the NICU was shocking. My child could be held in the palm of my teen son's hand. His skin was translucent; too thin and sensitive to be touched. Never had I imagined such a tiny little life.

Doctors and nurses very kindly explained to us the situation that we were facing. Our baby had survived just over 25 weeks in a uterus where the placenta was misplaced and growing through the uterine wall. The first amazing thing to them was that he had survived with so little placenta actually nourishing his tiny body. He had been born in extreme circumstances; my uterus had ruptured, threatening both of our lives. He had a brain hemorrhage, very tiny, inadequate lungs and really had a very small chance for survival.

For the next 96 days we lived the roller coaster of the NICU that we had tried to prepare for. We learned terminology that doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists were using between themselves. We learned what all of the tubes, ventilator and monitors meant and became accustomed to the constant beeps and sporadic alarms that would sound when there was trouble. We prayed desperately for the life of our son, spoke gently to him in his incubator, made recordings to be played to him and rode the emotional ride of our lives. He became septic more times that I can remember, had multiple transfusions, his lungs would not function properly, he endured surgeries; the list could go on and on. We wept, we prayed, we hoped, we lost hope, and back again. Over and over we watched as the doctors and nurses resuscitated his failing body and over and over we gratefully wept as we saw the monitors begin to beep normally again.

In the process of these months we learned how to study and recommend treatments for our son. The doctors would test and identify an infection and my husband would look up experimental treatments on the web and ask if they could be tried. Several times this process ended up in the use of a medication that saved our child's life. We learned to have a new respect for NICU doctors and especially for the nurses who loved and cared for each baby that was brought into their care. Their tireless search for new ideas has increased the survival rate of premature babies who spend their first days, weeks and even months in their care.

After 96 days we were finally allowed to bring our precious son home on a heart monitor and oxygen. This began the new experience of caring for our now 4 lb baby on our own, with the help of home nurses for several months. That continuing experience is a topic for another article. Our NICU experience will remain a vivid part of my memory for years to come. Today I cannot look at pictures of our lives during that period without weeping. Looking back however, I realize that while I could not prepare myself for the NICU experience, the grace for the time was indeed there. We walked through those days facing each obstacle and each pain one step at a time. It is true that God provides the grace needed at the moment it is needed. Not a moment earlier, and not a moment too late! It is by God's grace that we indeed survived the NICU!