Dreams Come True Visit the NICU

The Inova Loudoun Hospital hosted fire chiefs, princess, several Spidermen, a mermaid, a pumpkin, a very small tiger, a plethora of ballerinas and at least one tree frog on Sunday, Sept. 25.

They were all graduates of the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and were back in costume for a party celebrating their health, growth and futures.

Registered Nurse Lori Caslin and the other nurses in the neonatal unit got the party started 10 years ago. Today it’s a fixture on the calendar, the last Sunday in September, for families whose children started life at risk and in the NICU.

“I was new at Loudoun Hospital then," Caslin said Sunday, as the costumed graduates arrived with their parents and headed for the entertainment and snacks. “I had seen a NICU reunion at much larger hospital in Colorado, where I came from, and I really felt a NICU reunion was something that would be fun for the families here."

Dr. Anil Sharma, director of the neonatal unit, couldn’t agree more.

“This is probably the best reward we can get,” Sharma said. “These babies have been very sick in the NICU, have fought for their very existence and now seeing these bundles of joy, full of energy, coming here, means a lot.”

He pointed to two second graders and said that the twins were "just perfect. Those were babies we were very worried about,” Sharma said.

It’s even more meaningful, he added, because the babies, who leave the NICU, healthy enough to go home, are still very tiny.

“There is no other way for us to get feedback on babies we cared for," Sharma said. "to see how they are doing out there in the community.”

Erica Kordes spent eight days in the Inova Loudoun Hospital in March 2009 when her water broke 11 weeks early. Her son, Matthew, arrived 10 weeks early and weighed only three pounds five ounces. He went straight to the NICU, Kordes said.

Matthew’s big challenge, his mother said, was learning to suck, swallow and breathe, all in the right order. He learned and went home after 35 days in intensive care. At the 2011 reunion, Matthew, now two-and-a-half years old, came as a fire chief and went right for the bubble blowing stand.

Kordes’ involvement with the NICU has only deepened since that time. About two months after Matthew was born, the NICU staff asked her to come back and share some sensitivity training with the nurses. She did, and that grew into the NICU Parent Advisory Council. It meets quarterly, reviews NICU rules and regulations, makes suggestions, and supplies small gifts to parents during holidays including pies at Thanksgiving and a pail with a shovel on Memorial Day.

The parents who are facing the stress of a seriously ill infant today can look at the scrapbook Caslin and the other nurses keep up. In it are photos of two-, three- and four-pound babies, sprouting tubes and needles. But there are also photos of the same baby at his or her first birthday party, starting kindergarten, performing in the school play, chasing a soccer ball. It helps the parents see beyond the anxiety and stress of the moment.

One of the first tasks the Parent Advisory Council took on, Kordes said, was to review the “welcome” letter that goes to every new parent. Without changing the content, they softened it, made it more a welcome and less a list of rules.