Neonates – Deeperlook

The space between this series is getting wider.

Apologies to those following closely

Let’s continue regardless..

LA PRECIOUS

The neonatal ward was meant for neonates, the most fragile in all of the wards.

They needed to be handled with extra care and monitored as closely as possible.

And for me this reality meant less sleep.

I got attached to the babies I managed and would check up even when there was nothing I was supposed to be doing.

In managing these babies, we had the ones in intensive care; that is in the incubator and those who were put in a cot and for most of them, a regular blood sugar check was needed. Those in the incubator were the premature babies that needed to still complete their needed developmental period before they could be released out of it.

I had some unique experiences and I will share a bit of them.

When transfusing these babies, we needed to do it in what we call a Aliquot method and this needed intentionality. So on one of the nights, I needed to transfuse a neonate but the baby was too active and kept disrupting the procedure. A new line had to be set and yet the neonate’s arm in active movement kept tampering with the line and it frustrated me.

It was as early as 3am and I was still battling to complete the procedure. The child could not understand my frustration and we both were frustrated with the procedure. My eyes were with sleep and my body fatigued from leaning over and holding the child little arm. Gratefully, I was done and cleaned up to rest my head for only few hours.

Being on the neonatal ward call also meant we had to cover for special deliveries which included caesarian sections or neonatal emergencies that presented during call hours and that to added bulk to the load work as one’s presence could be demanded for in many places at the same time.

There were days that in the process of multitasking, some our routine work suffered. However, in the process I got to appreciate the resilience of some neonates with some of the least expected making remarkable improvements and recovering faster than expected.

Then there were the loses, some very painful as they showed often showed signs of being able to pull through.

The mothers of these little ones were heroes in my eyes. Most of them handled this very challenging period with grace and patience and sometimes when they became edgy, I could easily give them a break and offer comfort the way I could.