Thankfully I have not had to deal with anything like this.

We had a 28 weeker. I can’t be any more grateful to the amazing nurses and doctors at mater hospital answering all our questions letting me come visit our daughter in my hospital bed making us feel like “normal” parents as much as we could while she was in nicu. It is amazing the connections you end up making with the nurses, doctors and other parents in the nicu

Special Care nursery for us but just as scary the first time around, second time not so much, the staff were wonderful as were most of the other scn parents. You really learn how strong your tint babies are

I still remember the day they told me numb is ok, tears are ok but most of all laughter is healing they where miracle works for our family

What a great article, thanks for sharing.

I was very blessed that all went well with my baby and he didn’t need to go to nicu. My friends however both have babies in there currently – twins that were born 10 weeks early and a singleton who was born via emergency csection and has complications

What an amazing, rewarding job God bless them

These nurses and doctors are amazing. They don’t get enough credit for the work that they do.

What a read. I am lost for words.

I had a threatened pre-term labour at 30 weeks. I would have had my baby go to the Neo Natal Unit at Flinders Medical Centre in South Australia if she was born then. I held on till 37 weeks & 3 days. Had her by planned C – Section due to complications. I am extremely thankful that I got to have her in my home town and I will always admire the work of the staff in Neo Natal Units. Thankyou for your awesome and amazing work.

I was actually banned from the NICU as I was so sick myself. I don’t blame them, but it was traumatic.

what a great well written article

Our 2nd child a little girl but now she’s 21, I had her at 30 weeks, I was poked & prided, I had numerous amniocentesis which was traumatic enough. I broke down this particular day & said to the obstetrician that I’ve had enough, well the next day my obstetrician came in & said you’ll be induced tomorrow (Friday) our daughter weighed 1.8 kgs, she was in the Neo natal unit for 6 weeks. 6 weeks of traveling over an hour, 1 day we didn’t come in as the nurse said you need a break. They are amazing nurses & Drs, keep up the good work.

Wonderfully written. I can only imagine how scary it is to have a babe that needs extra help. Compassionate, assuring and empathetic staff make a world of difference. Nurses and doctors do an amazing job

Offering congratulations first is so hope giving and encouraging. I guess I’m blessed to not be well acquainted with the knit unit

My twin boys were in the Neonatal ICU for a month when they were born at N1city hospital under the care of Dr Ricky Dippenaar and his staff he is an amazing doctor and I know my boys would not have survived if it was not for his care and supervision

I had an epidural for my vaginal delivery and i kept pressing the self-medicade button because I was feeling all the contractions and I couldn’t figured out why it wasn’t making a difference with the discomfort. Since I kept pressing the button, it ended up making the top of my left thigh numb. Little did we know that it was affecting my baby too. When he was born, because he didn’t take his initial breath and they had to, sort of, wake him up and then he started to breath on his own. They took him away before I could even hold him and when we visited him a couple hours later we found out that he basically had a form of sleep apnea and needed time to get the drugs out of his system. They sent him to another hospital more equipped for that sort of thing and into the N.I.C.U.
I hated the different ‘levels’ where the babies were depending on the severity of there diagnosis because some of the babies never got a visitor. There was one baby that was very colicky and he needed lots of attention, but his family wasn’t around enough or hardly at all to give it to him. I wanted so bad to holdhim and comfort him, but they wwouldn’t let me. Also, the nurse was getting impatient with him too.
In summary, I was so glad that my baby recooperated within a few days and we finally bring him home, but that I could get away from all the saddness of those poor babies struggling to live and not having family around to comfort them.

Thank you to the RPA NICU in Camperdown NSW for caring for my so born with a heart condition, I will forever be grateful!

My boy was born on 39 weeks wit a c section his heart dip and his aucigen was very low he spend 10 days in the nicu and the staff wad very suportif and kept my hopes up they are very special people and i thank them for there suport

My little boy was born right on 36 weeks he had an apgar score or 1 and for some reason was born with a Neumathorax, it was scary to see such a defenseless little baby with tubes coming out from everywhere, 3yrs on and now I have a healthy little boy. I am so greatful to the nurses and doctors in NICU they are wonderful and very supportive.