Every year, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at our hospital holds a giant reunion for all of their NICU graduates!
You know it's a NICU reunion when the first thing you see upon walking in is lots and lots of hand sanitizer!
We didn't get to go last year since the kids were sick. We didn't think that the other NICU parents would appreciate us exposing their low-immunity kids to ours. But this year everybody was well, so we loaded up and headed back to our home away from home.
Ellie, Mommy, Abby, Caleb, Daddy, and Elijah
They had a lot of fun activities for the kids including face painting, crafts, basketball toss, and photo booth. We are still on the young side for most of those, but we did take advantage of the photo booth! The kids {mostly} cooperated with the photos.
We saw several of our friends from the NICU, which was wonderful! Abby showed one of our night nurses, Stephanie, our photo after it was printed. It was so fun to see our healthy, happy kids interacting with the nurses who saved their lives so many times!
This photo makes me laugh! At one point, Caleb decided that he'd seen everything there was to see, climbed back in his wagon with a cookie and kicked back.
We love our nurses, doctors, and all of their support staff who took such good care of our kids! Unless we have sick kiddos again in the future, we plan on heading to our reunion every year. The nurses told us back when we were still in the NICU that the reunion is the highlight of their year. Their whole job is working with babies who are barely holding on to life. Once they improve, the kids leave and they don't see them again. the NICU reunion and seeing all of their babies walking back into the room is where they get the encouragement to keep going in their chosen profession. They have such an intense and often tragic job. We are so grateful for them!
The kids with one of our day nurses, Tess, and one of our night nurses, Stephanie!
Every year, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at our hospital holds a giant reunion for all of their NICU graduates!
You know it's a NICU reunion when the first thing you see upon walking in is lots and lots of hand sanitizer!
We didn't get to go last year since the kids were sick. We didn't think that the other NICU parents would appreciate us exposing their low-immunity kids to ours. But this year everybody was well, so we loaded up and headed back to our home away from home.
Ellie, Mommy, Abby, Caleb, Daddy, and Elijah
They had a lot of fun activities for the kids including face painting, crafts, basketball toss, and photo booth. We are still on the young side for most of those, but we did take advantage of the photo booth! The kids {mostly} cooperated with the photos.
We saw several of our friends from the NICU, which was wonderful! Abby showed one of our night nurses, Stephanie, our photo after it was printed. It was so fun to see our healthy, happy kids interacting with the nurses who saved their lives so many times!
This photo makes me laugh! At one point, Caleb decided that he'd seen everything there was to see, climbed back in his wagon with a cookie and kicked back.
We love our nurses, doctors, and all of their support staff who took such good care of our kids! Unless we have sick kiddos again in the future, we plan on heading to our reunion every year. The nurses told us back when we were still in the NICU that the reunion is the highlight of their year. Their whole job is working with babies who are barely holding on to life. Once they improve, the kids leave and they don't see them again. the NICU reunion and seeing all of their babies walking back into the room is where they get the encouragement to keep going in their chosen profession. They have such an intense and often tragic job. We are so grateful for them!
The kids with one of our day nurses, Tess, and one of our night nurses, Stephanie!
This is amazing that you celebrate those who assisted your family. I think that nurses are often forgotten and dismissed as "doing their job" --maybe for some it is a job but for others...its a passion and they don't get the celebrations they deserve. I bet seeing all of the little ones smiling and thriving was enough! Beautiful Family!
ReplyDeleteThey told us when we were still in the NICU that they really, really appreciate seeing families come back for the reunions. They said it is such a happy experience for them since they deal with traumatic situations so often.
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