Former NICU babies and families back for reunion
A crowd of babies returned to the Grey Nuns and Misericordia Hospitals for a reunion of sorts this past weekend.
The little ones and their parents returned to celebrate their “graduation” from the neonatal intensive care units (NICU) at the hospitals.
Chelsea Townsend, along with her wife Jenaya, had returned with triplet sons who were born at the Royal Alexandra Hospital around six weeks early — after five days at the Royal Alex they were transferred to the Grey Nuns, where they spent around a week and a half in the NICU until they reached a weight of four pounds.
“We’ve come to see our nurses and our friends who helped,” Townsend said. “They may have been preemies but the NICU here is amazing and the nurses are phenomenal, and I don’t know how they do it, they’re one of a kind.”
Sharing that sentiment was another mother, Michelle Cook, there with her two boys who are now four months old.
Her two sons who arrived around eight weeks early shared a placenta, but not equally. “We just didn’t know what it was going to be like for these two when they were born,” Cook said, sitting in a chair with a son in each arm.
One son, Owen, spent 105 days in the NICU. She credits everyone there for helping her out.
“All the nurses, the doctors, every single person that works at the Grey Nuns was so kind and compassionate,” Cook said. “You spend such a long time here, they become members of your family.”
Many nurses stopped by to say hello and hold the babies. The families gathered in a gym and Santa Claus made an appearance for photos and gifts.
Seeing a lot of the nurses brought tears to Cook’s eyes, “All these people, they don’t know you, but they spend their whole lives taking care of other peoples’ babies and doing such a good job of it, it’s great they really do care,” Cook said.
Paul Byrne is the medical director of the NICU at the Grey Nuns. After making one of his former charges smile, he looked around the room, happy to see the families and staff eating and having fun.
From Nov. 1, 2017 to Oct. 31, 2018, there were 8,858 babies delivered at the Grey Nuns and Misericordia hospitals. Of those, 832 were admitted to neonatal intensive care, either due to prematurity or medical complications.
Some of the babies arrive into the world at under two pounds.
The Misericordia NICU plays a big role in caring for preterm babies born in Edmonton. The unit has 18 single-family suites, allowing parents to be close to their babies, enabling care of their preterm infants as soon as possible.
In 2018, the Misericordia also began providing neonatal echocardiograms to its youngest patients, meaning infants don’t need to be transferred to the University Hospital for the tests, removing a stressor for babies and families.
Built in 2010, the Grey Nuns neonatal intensive care nursery has 25 beds that offer compassionate, family integrated care.
About 15 million babies are born preterm each year, accounting for more than one in 10 of all babies born worldwide.