Re: Funny/happy NICU moments needed

We just had our annual reunion picnic this past weekend. It's always so much fun seeing everybody come back, bigger and healthier and happier than when they left the unit.

Last fall, I took care of a baby who was diagnosed with Treacher-Collins Syndrome. His parents are both originally from China, and when he was born, their initial reactions were to give him up for adoption. In their culture, what they have known their entire lives, is that if you're not perfect, than you will never be accepted in society. They had not known that he would have Treacher-Collins before he was born.

He did pretty well from the get-go. He needed an oral airway, and had a pretty significant cleft palate, and no external ears, but other than that - he was totally normal baby.

The first few weeks, his parents never came to visit, and only called a handful of times. They maintained that they wanted to keep him, but just didn't know if he would ever be accepted by their families and whatnot...

They held off giving him up completely until after his first surgery (mandibular distraction), because they said they wouldn't be able to live with themselves if something had happened. Afterwards, they started visiting and getting to know him, and love him.

Long story short... he ended up going home with his parents :-)

They were eager to learn how to NG feed him at home, and began coming in every day to learn everything that they would need to know. After he went home, they would e-mail us with updates, and we would hear from speech and PT/OT how well he was doing in his follow-up appointments!

I totally didn't expect them to show up at the picnic this weekend, but they did! He looks amazing!!! It was sooooooooo good to see how well his parents were doing with him. They were even in contact with a few families back in China who also have children with similar issues. They have been encouraging them to come to the states, because here "anything is possible".

I love my job!

Re: Funny/happy NICU moments needed

I have read all the posts in this sticky and it confirmed something for me. I am looking to graduate in 2012 and I hope to one day become a NICU-RN and then become a NNP. Your stories have made given me a glimpse into the things you all do on a daily basis.

Re: Funny/happy NICU moments needed

I so, know what you mean. It is the happy moments and the little miracles that make it worth it.

Re: Funny/happy NICU moments needed

Thanks RainDreamer.
Your post brought tears to my eyes.

Re: Funny/happy NICU moments needed

One of our chronics just had a VP shunt put in. The anesthesiologist who did the case wasn't one of our normal ones - it was quite evident that he wasn't too familiar with premies. Anyway - the surgery goes fine (the baby was already intubated before the surgery). On the way back up to the unit, the anesthesiologist states that the baby should be waking up fairly soon, and should be able to extubate shortly after that.

Well - what the anesthesiologist failed to recognize was that this baby has been intubated since birth (over 4 months ago...) at 27 weeks. He has horrible chronic lung disease and will most likely end up with a trach...

It was just really funny seeing him have total lack of understanding of the history of his patient... the other nurses / docs and I all had a good laugh about this one!

This also reminded me of the time the neurosurgeons walked through the fire doors that very clearly state "NO EXIT - ALARM WILL SOUND"...that was a fun and loud way to end the night shift!

Re: Funny/happy NICU moments needed

Originally Posted by Sweeper933

This also reminded me of the time the neurosurgeons walked through the fire doors that very clearly state "NO EXIT - ALARM WILL SOUND"...that was a fun and loud way to end the night shift!

This cracked me up! We had one of our neurosurgeons run into the door before LOL. He rang the bell and thought it would automatically open, failing to recognize that we first had to open the door for him. We were all "it's not brain surgery!"

Re: Funny/happy NICU moments needed

We have an AED at the top of our stairs (the NICU is on the 4th floor). It never fails that every semester, one of the residents will pull the door open to play with it. This send the "Code Blue, 4th floor" announcement off and we all go running to find either, 1 - a red in the face resident holding the aed with shoulders shrugged or, 2- the sound of a rapid descending adult hitting the 3rd floor landing. Always worth the trouble!

Re: Funny/happy NICU moments needed

Not really funny but happy. I am a 32 y/o ex 29 weeker about to start working in the daughter NICU of the NICU that I was in, in 1977. Also I will be working with one of my original doctors who was a resident at the time I was there and is now our main attending! If it wasn't for the nurses, doctor's, and other staff, I wouldn't be here today!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do! It really does make a HUGE difference in someone's life!!

Re: Funny/happy NICU moments needed

Originally Posted by Sweeper933

This also reminded me of the time the neurosurgeons walked through the fire doors that very clearly state "NO EXIT - ALARM WILL SOUND"...that was a fun and loud way to end the night shift!

Neurosurgeons do not believe advisory signs like that (or, basically, any other rule/regulation) apply to them.