I remember the NICU, too

2 comments May 28th, 2008

I’ve had the good fortune to meet Joshua and Kalie Kuhl, who have quite a story to tell about their identical triplet boys Trevin, Gavin and Brodin. 

And it brings back some very personal memories.  I’ve had my own experience with a baby in a neonatal intensive care unit.

The Kuhl babies will be in Rockford Memorial Hospital’s NICU for weeks.  My baby was only in the NICU for eight days, at Lee Memorial Hospital’s HealthPark in Fort Myers, Florida. She was full-term and healthy when born, a normal pregnancy. But in her first day of life she was diagnosed with a potentially fatal infection, e.coli sepsis. 

I will be eternally grateful to the pediatrician who sensed something was wrong with this newborn and ordered the blood tests that diagnosed her. She got onto antibiotics right away. But it was quite a shock to have my baby taken from my arms in the birthing unit. Before I knew it she was behind glass, surrounded by tiny monitors.  They even did a spinal tap on her when she was one day old, to make sure the infection hadn’t caused meningitis.

She’s 15 years old now.  But I’ll never forget that first day when well-wishers came to visit and found me with eyes swollen by crying with worry and shock. I’ll never forget the days and nights spent living at the hospital after I was released and she was not. I went in to visit her every chance I got.  Fortunately the hospital building was full of nooks and crannies with couches where I could curl up and nap in between visits. The cafeteria food was even pretty good.

Those eight days seemed like an eternity. I can’t imagine weeks or months. I am grateful that Kalie and Joshua are willing to share their story with us. I’ve already heard from others who read about the Kuhls’ experience and know themselves what it means to live in the four walls of the NICU.