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They took us on a tour of the neonatal unit yesterday afternoon (click on the fundraising link to see the photo), in order to prepare us just in case we needed to deliver baby early. Talk about emotional, Louise and I both had tears in our eyes at various times through the tour.
The unit is both sad and comforting at the same time. Really tiny babies lay in their humidicribs, where they try to reproduce the conditions in the womb as much as possible. It’s layed out like a regular ward, but smaller, and with most of the lights out, so it’s dark, except for the multitude of lights and monitoring displays. In some way’s it’s like a secret hydroponics lab, not that I’d know what one of those looks like. 😉
Babies are continually monitored with those little clip on heart rate monitors attached to their feet, and they are fed by either a canular into the arm, or via a really tiny tube into the mouth and stomach, which is removed after each feeding. Babies are positioned so that they can move and exercise their arms and legs, which helps develop their little muscles.
Yesterday they started giving Louise steroid injections which will help to fast develop baby’s lungs, in case we need to bring it into the world. If we delivered now, baby would go into the neonatal unit for about 5-6 weeks. Luckily at this point we’d be going into the regular section of neonatal, and not the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), because we’re at 34 weeks. Some of the babies in the ICU were around 24 weeks and under 1 Kg in weight, and were smaller than a kitten, yet as cute as punch. Our baby is 2.389 Kg.
The staff seemed fantastic, and each baby had a dedicated nurse, all of whom seemed really nice when we spoke to them. If you’re considering which charity to give to this year, then I’d seriously recommend RPAH, and in particular their neonatal unit. They do an awesome job, but it costs a LOT of money, and we all know how stuffed up our health system is at the moment. Help keep more babies alive and allow them to have future rich and happy lives.