Preemie/NICU-isms

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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

I am a parent of a preemie and I am thinking about going to school for nursing and wanted to do NICU. My daughter was born at 23.6 wks and has only been home 3 wks any advice on school?

Get a degree right from the start.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.
I am a parent of a preemie and I am thinking about going to school for nursing and wanted to do NICU. My daughter was born at 23.6 wks and has only been home 3 wks any advice on school?

You probably don't want to go to school right now, so you have time to research the programs in your area, the prerequisites, etc. Then you can start when you're ready. If there are nurses you were attached to in the unit, you can ask them where they went. Take your time until the baby is a little older. She will need you full time for a while.

Good luck w/your daughter and your career plans.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.
We sometimes give "spa baths"... We'll put the baby in the tub and then drop in an O2 tubing attached to 15LPM for continuous bubbles! Is it therapeutic for the baby in any way? Doubtful, they still either like the bath or hate it, but the parents get a kick out of it!

Try loosely swaddling the baby in a blanket; they like it better if they're contained, I think.

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Ok, I've got a couple that aren't parent friendly either but...

A 500 grammer on room air all flexed up in his blanket rolls is a "chicken wing."

A VAD or V-P shunt is a "brain-drain."

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stright jackets: the blankets we use to swaddle the wild ones really tight

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stright jackets: the blankets we use to swaddle the wild ones really tight

I've used that one too, and the restraints I call handcuffs!

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Specializes in NICU/Neonatal transport.

apanter: I would recommend waiting at least a couple of years before starting back to school. I'm going back right now and it is very rough to do with kids; mine are 2 and almost 5 with no major health issues. Classes take time during the day, and then there is the study time and once you get into clinicals, you'll be exposed to more germs that you will be bringing home and sharing with your family. With such a teeny tiny one, you don't want to expose her to that for some time yet.

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under the billi lights.......in the Bali sun

The itty bittys in the humidified isolettes covered in eucerin......cook'n with gas

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Going from Special Care Nursery to NICU...going to the naughty corner.

Improving on the walk down the hall from L & D to SCN...the walk of shame.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

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.

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Specializes in NICU.

"Portable" babies, as in "He's portable" or "Is he portable?"

Big babies that are safe to take off the monitors so they can be passed around from nurse to nurse for feeding or soothing because of frequent feedings and excessive crying. If "High Maintenance" babies are also "Portable" babies, it will be a good shift.

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An "F.L.K." is short for a "funny looking kid", one of those babes that you know just doesn't look quite right, but you don't have a diagnosis for yet.

A "fetus incompletus" ..... 23 weeks or less.

"Granola crunchers" ..... some parents... you know the type.

"Death spell" .... prolonged apnea and brady.

"Toaster head".... a premie with not too round head!

"The Dead in the Bed look" .... that yucky septic look.

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