🏥 NICU stands for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It is a unit dedicated to taking care of premature infants as young as 23 weeks (viable age) and as small as 500 grams (1.1 pounds!!) until up to 1 year. ⠀
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🏪 We take care of babies with various disease process whether they just need further monitoring, had a complicated birth and/or birth traumas, born prematurely, genetics, chronic medical conditions, and more. ⠀
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😶 There are a lot of misconceptions about the NICU being “Disneyland” and that all NICU nurses do all day long is hold and feed babies. And while that may not be wrong some of the times, a lot of times we are dealing with much more than that. ⠀
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😔 There are days where it’s rough. Having 3 people just to help a parent hold their intubated baby for the first time, comforting a family having to let go, teaching a parent how to change a diaper on their small 700 gram baby, or walking out of a code feeling defeated. It truly is a daunting place even for someone that works in the unit. ⠀
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💕 It is so important to be emphatic and understanding to all the families that walk in. NICU parents are just as much parents as everyone else. To me they are even more resilient and so strong. ⠀
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👩🏻⚕️ There is no unit where I would rather be!! My journey as a NICU nurse has barely even begun and I am so excited for what’s more to come. Curious about how to become a NICU nurse and how to know if it’s right for you? Well check out my video!
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