Meet NICU Graduate Baby Baylor
Meet Baby Baylor! This little fighter was born at 27+5, weighed just 2lb 1oz at birth, and spent 85 days in the NICU.
It was Sunday evening and Momma Taylor was over at her mom's house for dinner when she started experiencing a very bad headache. They were headed home and she didn't want to go to the hospital because she had a doctors appointment the next morning. She was already being monitored for pre pre-eclampsia because she had high blood pressure. When the migraine became so severe that Taylor told her husband that she felt like she was going to vomit, he immediately pulled off the highway and took her to the hospital (Good job Dad!!). At the hospital, there was a whole line of people and they were taking everyone's temperature and blood pressure as they were checking in. Taylor said she did not even get to sit down and wait before they came to get her and took her back. Taylor was immediately given two steroid shots to help speed lung development of the baby.
Since Taylor was less than 32 weeks pregnant, and they were at St. Luke's Meridian, they had to stabilize her so that she could be transported the next morning to St. Luke's Boise, which has a Level 4 NICU. Learn about what level of NICU care is provided at the different St. Lukes locations in the Treasure Valley.
What are the different Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) levels?
Level I: Basic newborn care. Level 1 nurseries care for healthy, full-term babies.
Level II: Advanced newborn care. Level 2 can care for babies with a gestational age of 32 weeks or greater.
Level III: Subspecialty newborn care. Level 3 NICU can care for babies born at 27 weeks of gestation or greater.
Level IV: Highest level of neonatal care. Level 4 NICU can care for babies as young as 22 weeks gestation and weighing less than 1 pound 13 ounces.
Taylor was in the hospital for 2 days before baby Baylor was born. Afterwards, Taylor spent 12 hours a day in the NICU with her baby. For the whole first month, she was not even allowed to hold him because he had such a bad gag reflux and would sometimes throw up just from being touched.
One of the hardest parts of their journey was that so many people knew that Baby Baylor had been born and wanted to meet him, but no one was allowed in the NICU because of restricted visitation. One of the great things about this journey was getting to know so many of the nurses on a more personal level. The support of her husband was what helped her get through, especially during the early days after delivery when she was tired and loopy from birth and the magnesium she was being given. Dad actually learned from the lactation consultant how to express milk and pump for her because she couldn't wake up to do it on her own. Then he taught her how to do it 👏
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