Topics About 'Neonatal Nursing'.

One of the great things about my job is welcoming new life and watching miracles happen almost every day. Nearly every day I fall in love with at least one of the babies and/or new families in my care, and more often than not, it's all of them. Howev...

( My English it's not 100%, thank you for your patience. ) I was young, that was my second job. I had graduated from nursing school a little more than a year before that night, I was 20 years old. Ever since I pass my initial exam to enter nursing sc...

While still considered premature, these infants are often under the care of a well-baby nursery after birth. However, it is a mistake to treat these babies as we would a full-term baby. Below are some special things to take into consideration when ca...

During the antenatal period, fetal hemoglobin levels are necessarily higher than postnatal. Increased hemoglobin is needed to carry oxygen from the maternal/placental blood into fetal tissue for the massive perfusion and growth needed in the third tr...

My best friend had a beautiful baby girl last April. Her pregnancy was healthy, and the OB-GYN did not expect any complications. She had an Ultrasound three weeks before delivery that showed many decelerations so she had an emergency c-section. The b...

I graduated from Buffalo General Hospital School of Nursing in June of 1975. It was a 3 year hospital based program that no longer exists. After working night shift in a very small rural hospital as a graduate nurse for 3 months I was hired for my "d...

I'm a mother/baby nurse and proud to be one. Compared to lots of units, we mother/baby folks might be considered lucky to have such 'cake' jobs, and some days I'd agree. Other days I leave work exhausted, with sore feet, sore back, dry mouth, empty s...

Before I ever thought about going to nursing school, I was a paramedic. Paramedics are taught suppress their emotions at all costs. Emotions take time and time is a luxury when one has a maximum of 15 minutes on scene time to stabilize a patient and ...

When I tell people I'm a mother-baby nurse, the usual reaction is, "Oh, what a great [fun, exciting, happy, insert positive adjective here] job that must be!" Sometimes, that's a true statement. But what most people don't realize (or if they do, they...

It's with sad irony that I power up the treadmill in the gym exactly 24 hours after I started chest compressions on you. You were my first patient loss. Being new to the NICU (though not new to nursing), I know you won't be my last. I forced myself d...

While in utero, glucose from the maternal bloodstream crosses the placental barrier and into fetal circulation to be used for growth. The fetal pancreas functions much as would an adult pancreas; that is, it facilitates glucose uptake by the cells th...

Amid the bustle of family birthing centers, we can be quick to forget the nervousness and anxiety filling new parents as they cycle through our doors. The excitement they feel when leaving the hospital may quickly be replaced with exhaustion from adj...

For moms who are breastfeeding, a good latch is supremely important. If not, nipple pain will soon ensue - even if the improper latch is held for just a few minutes, those few minutes can have a long-lasting effect. Additionally, if the baby's mouth ...

She had been born the afternoon before with a left diaphragmatic hernia, and although I knew that her prognosis was grim, I was amazed at how beautiful she looked, her skin, her hair, her little rosebud mouth, just a beautiful full-term baby, who was...

Some women who deliver at my hospital have been there for days, weeks, or months already as antepartum patients and they are cognizant of the fact that their baby will be in NICU for at least some time. Others come to the hospital in preterm labor th...

I am currently working on an infant unit, and my experience there thus far has been wonderful. On this particular occasion, I began the day with some adorable little patients. All of the infants on this unit have touched my heart, and I see beauty in...

I am an OB nurse; I do mother/baby, newborn nursery, and high-risk antepartum nursing. I'm used to being the one in control. I'm used to doing the teaching, reading the monitor strips, and reassuring the fears of many an anxious mama (pregnant or del...

Obviously, one can't survive extrauterine without oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange in the lungs, whether by natural respiration or mechanical ventilation. There is never a 100% guarantee that things will go as they should in any situation, but with a l...