Preemie/NICU-isms

[mermom]

Hi nurses,

Would you please share your funny preemie/NICU pet names for things, like some of these for example:

first attempt at breast-- "meet and greet"

under oxyhood-- in da 'hood

c-pap-- elephant impression

coming off of monitors-- (baby's name) unplugged

etc

I hope you don't mind this frivolous request. As a preemie mom I along with other preemie parents found these amusing bits of NICU humor a very welcome comic relief.

Thanks

Wen

[premies_4_40yrs]

Thought of a couple of more:

A "silver bullet" up the "poop shoot", is a Glycerin suppository sliver.

"used and abused" is a baby with very little I.V. access left. Also referred to as an "I.V. nightmare".

Seeing if a baby can "fly solo", refers to taking a baby off the vent, to see if he can make it without support.

Nurses say they have "fang marks on their neck and need a transfusion", when they've been dealing with very needy parents.

A "baby shower" is when you have a lot of admissions in a short period of time.

High calorie formula/breast milk, with lots of additives is called "rocket fuel". Mixing it at the bedside is referred to as "cooking up a batch".

"Light 'em up", means putting a baby under phototherapy. A baby who "glows in the dark" is one who is very jaundiced.

The first year pedi residents who show up in July, right after med school; and have the NICU as their first rotation, are referred to as having "the deer in the headlight look", they are so scared to death!! LOL!

[MsJessikia]

I LOVE EM!!! :rotfl:

[Danianne]

When my son who was born @ 27 weeks was in the NICU I used to say he was cookin on the rotisseri because everytime i came in he was truned everso slightly and the bili light were always on

[sparkyRN]

Premies 4 40

How funny that we use so many of the same expressions!

Our jaundiced babies are "pumpkins."

The ones who have just about stopped "circling the drain" are "sprouting wings" (as in angel's wings).

And the poor nurse, who inevitably comes into an assignment with a dying baby several shifts back to back, may call herself the "angel of death" or is "being followed by a black cloud."

[Danianne]

sometimes eventhough my son is doing well and I am on my way to be a neonatal nurse I still get a little teary eyed when I think of such a little one "sprouting wings"

[alvardalton]

I guess as nurses we need to separate ourselves from the job as it is hard living and dying with each patient. We can however empathise, in some cases sympathise with our patients and their families.

[prmenrs, RN]

Even though we joke and make up funny names of stuff doesn't mean we don't care. We would never say "sprouting wings" to parents, we would try to help them cope w/their situation, and if the baby is alone, we hold babies who are dying in a quiet place so that they will feel comfort and love as they go. Believe my, tears are shed when appropriate.

When we make comments that are funny ways of explaining what we're doing, it seems to help parents relax. Most of the time what we're doing is not that bad, but parents don't know that. Making a little joke helps. De-intensifies NICU.

Understanding the place nurses and docs are coming from when they say these things may help you, too, Danianne.

[Danianne]

love the sayings though, in our home town NICU there was this incubator/ warming table that was totally see through and the top was mechanical so they could lift it up and use the thingy as a warming table, anyways I told my husband that it looked like sleeping beauty's coffin. it really looked like one :). a few days later a little 24 weeker Named Gabriella died in it so when ever I talk about that baby I call her princes snow white. I just totally hate seeing teeny babies die. But as a parent of a former Preemie I would not have minded if some one told me that my son had sprouted wings and flew awa. I feel that iff he had died that if some one came and told me that "your NBM has died" I would be more upset.

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

love the sayings though, in our home town NICU there was this incubator/ warming table that was totally see through and the top was mechanical so they could lift it up and use the thingy as a warming table, anyways I told my husband that it looked like sleeping beauty's coffin. it really looked like one :).

That particular bed is called an Omnibed...but we call them "Cadillacs" instead, to each other and the parents. It's the top-of-the-line of all neonatal beds right now, and actually DOES cost as much as a Caddy.

[Deidre Shiobhan]

Parents always think it's cute when I refer to an isolette as a condo. I don't know why, but they always seem to associate a baby in an "incubator" as somehow MUCH sicker than a baby on a warmer!

I agree with u . The parents in my unit do share the same feelings too . We also refer the incubator as condo or bungalow . We refer to those babies who had desaturated and became dusky as " black chicken " . Note - this black chicken is often brewed with herbs and it is a tonic for health and vitality in the asia . other funny names include -

phototherapy - sunbathing

nil by mouth - puasa ( in Malay of course - I'm from a multi racial country )

No offence pls , there are many others but can't think of it now .

[pooh54]

High maintanence: a baby and/or parents that consume far greater than average amounts of the nurses time.

Dumb Baby Syndrome: comes in different flavors: LGA baby w/low blood sugars who also refuses to eat enough to keep his blood sugar WNL; term baby who doesn't want to transition til he's been on O2, gotten a septic w/u, an IV, antibiotics, and scared his parents to death (the septic w/u will be negative); premies who should but don't eat or breathe on a regular basis.

you've got this one! We called it stupid baby syndrome, phototx: tanning booth, squashed frog:opposite of positive butt sign,finally breathing for a living: babies who finally got it together,eating for a living:ditto. :

[Mommy2Katiebaby]

OMG, we were high maintenance AND my DD had dumb baby syndrome!