Faith's 73-Day NICU Stay

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September is NICU Awareness Month. For those who don't know, NICU is an acronym for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. According to World Metrics 50,000 premature babies in the United States receive care each year in the NICU. 

The average NICU stay for a preemie is 25 days. Honestly, that number surprises me, as I thought it would be much higher than that. Along with preemies, full-term babies born with certain health issues, such as respiratory distress, jaundice, and other kinds of infections receive care in the NICU. 

Tiny Faith in her isolette at Mayo 

But for Faith, whose untimely birth consisted of an emergency C-section 11 weeks early, it took 73 days before she was discharged. Those 73 days were a major emotional rollercoaster! And for many reasons, one of which was being nearly 600 miles from home as Faith was born at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. (You can read what led up to that on my post, October 4, 2003: A Day I'll Never Forget.) 

Then, after she was born, I only saw her for a few minutes before she was whisked away to the NICU. It was days before I could finally hold her, and when I did, she was laying on a pillow, hooked up to all kinds of lines and wires. Nothing was like I had imagined it would be! 

Faith hooked up to her CPAP 
Faith shortly after the first bath I had ever given her

After getting used to the NICU care in Rochester, we were told she was doing well enough to be air-ambulanced (without her parents) to a NICU in North Dakota. Talk about stressful! Little did we know at the time, that Faith would be spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's in the NICU in Bismarck. 

Getting ready to be Transported from Rochester to Bismarck 

Her dad and I tried to visit her as often as we could, although sometimes we would get kicked out when nurses rotated shifts or they had to do a procedure on another patient. We learned how to change her diaper and get her dressed, with our hands going through the little holes in the isolette, all while keeping her tubes and lines intact. One of my favorite things about our NICU experience was kangaroo care, which is when I tucked her inside my shirt in order to maintain skin-to-skin contact. 

Along with kangaroo care, our days were filled with seeing the doctor and other specialists, evaluations with physical therapists, and mostly just sitting in rocking chairs close to her isolette listening to music, reading, praying, and jumping every time an alarm on her monitor went off. Every now and then we had visitors, but most of them weren't allowed inside the NICU and they could only see Faith from behind a window. 

I was able to hold her much more often upon our arrival in Bismarck

Her dad and I also managed to go home to Watford City a few times, but I always felt so guilty for leaving Faith behind. Because home was 180 miles away, we were blessed to be able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House just down the street. When we weren't at the NICU, we watched TV, ate goodies, visited with other parents, and drank too much coffee at our home away from home. 

The Ronald McDonald House - our home away from home 

During her NICU stay, I was devastated to learn that she had suffered a type of brain damage called periventricular leukomalacia when she had been born. Another difficulty I faced was seeing other babies who arrived around the same time as Faith, or after, and being discharged before Faith. One baby only weighed 4 pounds, and she could already go home! I knew it wasn't right to compare, but all I could think about was the day we could bust out of the NICU and get Faith home. 

But there were happy times as well. I rejoiced at every ounce she gained, every step she took to being out of her isolette and into a regular crib, every time she maintained her body temperature, every time her feedings increased, every time she ate without her heart rate dropping, and even every time she cried, as that meant her lungs were good and strong. Through it all, we had received cards, gifts, words of encouragement, and many prayers. 

Faith doing some tummy time - she is gaining weight! 

Holding my sweet little girl 

It doesn't always work out this way for preemies, but her last day in the NICU fell on her original due date of January 5th. I will never forget the day we bundled her up in her fuzzy yellow outfit with the hood on it and wrapped her in her car seat for the trip home. 

It was brutally cold, but the sun was shining, and the roads were dry. At home, there would be many days that we suffered from post NICU stress disorder (PNSD - a term her dad made up but seemed like a real thing). Even so, it was so wonderful to finally be home.

Although Faith's NICU days were nearly 22 years ago, they will forever be etched in my mind. My heart truly goes out to parents who have been through or are presently having a similar experience. 

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