NICU Graduates

Every year, Mary Birch Hospital for Women has a NICU graduates party. Any family with a child who has spent time in their NICU in the past 3 years or so is welcome to attend.

They had drinks and snacks, a petting zoo, games, crafts (donated by Home Depot), face painting and a firetruck which the firemen were more than willing to give people a tour of.

One of the best parts about it was each family had the opportunity to sit for a video spot. You state your name, what caused your child to be in the NICU and then any words of thanks you wanted to convey to the NICU nurses. I understand that once the celebration was over, each of the nurses got a dvd to take home and watch.

As is typical, I did the talking for our little video shoot and when it got to the part where I wanted to say "Thank you" the eyes got misty, the throat closed up and I could barely choke out a "You have no idea how much we appreciate you" (I am getting watery just typing this now). How do you say, "Thank you for saving my daughter's life?"

We took a few photos while we were there. The brunette is Donna - a force to be reckoned with. She was the nurse that I walked with as she transported Annabelle from one hospital to another for her spinal surgery the day after she was born and then for her shunt surgery the day after that. By the time we got back to the NICU after the second surgery, Annie was a complete tangle of tubes and wires and Donna all but grabbed the other nurses by the scruff of the neck and demanded: "THAT GOES THERE and THIS GOES HERE and CAN I GET THESE TUBES LABELED?! NOW?!" All the while I stood there in terror with my fist in my mouth - wanting to run but rooted to the spot where I was standing. After everything was untangled and labeled and Annabelle was settled, I said to Donna, "You're bossy. I love it - thank you."

The blonde is Amy, a nurse who watched Annie through the night more than once and whom I walked with when she transported Annabelle to the other hospital for xrays. She was intense - forceful - and very, very caring.

There were many more nurses that we wish we could have run into but I guess we just didn't cross paths that day.

It was a great event - good for us, good for the nurses. Good stuff all around.

As a side note, while we were talking with Donna, she said she had just been talking about us the other day - although she didn't out-right say it, I definitely got the impression that Annabelle was one of the more serious cases she has ever seen. My guess is she was bossy that day in part because she was in a slight state of panic as well and the adrenaline just kicked in.

Whatever it takes.