Typical

This is what work looks like from the outside. I work on the fourth floor, which in addition to the NICU houses the Labor and Delivery and Mother-Baby units.

I arrive (either by bus or by car) around 6:45 pm, go to the locker room, and change into hospital scrubs. Then I go into the NICU and after checking out the assignment book, I scrub in and get report. Our average census is between 8 and 15 babies, and our average load in 2-3 babies a piece, depending on how sick the babies are. If I just have "feeder-growers" (babies that just need to eat and get bigger before they can go home), I spend a few minutes filling all of the bottles or syringes for the night and stocking the fridge. If the baby can not tolerate or is too little to eat from a bottle, they eat from a tube in their nose or mouth, called an NG (naso-gastric) or OG (orogastric) tube. For those babies the formula or breast milk goes through a syringe into the tube.Photo Credit Here

Then we nurses sit around for a little while and drink some coffee. Seriously though. Preemies can't handle too much stimulation, so the whole unit runs on what's referred to as "clustered care". We only touch the babies every three hours: at 9, 12, 3, and 6. Of course there are times in between (diaper changes, emergencies, pacifier re-insertions), but for the most part we leave them alone in between feedings. At the 9pm feed, we also change bed linens and give baths. After the midnight assessment, I write my patient care notes, which does take a while considering I can't use a computer to do it! Then we all sit around and eat... Occasionally there are unexpected c-sections, or deliveries to go to, which breaks up the schedule. About an hour before the 6am assessment we draw any labs that need to be done for the day. And at 7 we get to give report, change, and go home to bed! Exciting, right?!