Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

The Most Frightening Four Letters in English Acronyms
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

NICU. As parents of twins, we lived in fear of the NICU, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We know they do amazing work these days and know many parents, and children, who have thrived after premature, in some cases drastically premature, births. And, of course, the number of cases among twins and triplets (a friend in South Africa had some over the weekend) is much higher than for singletons.

How interesting to read in the NYT this morning that the standard of care is beginning to change, away from all the isolation, tubes, and feedings, and more in the direction of maternal contact with the child. Here are the key grafs:

Hospitals are overhauling their neonatal intensive care units to transform open wards into private spaces that, in essence, restore the intimate relationship between the mother and child and allow the fragile infants to develop.

The momentum for the model occurs as more babies are being born prematurely and at an earlier stage. In 2004, there were 508,356 preterm births at less than 37 weeks of gestation, a 30 percent increase since 1981, according to the March of Dimes.

In addition, survivability rates for smaller preterm infants are increasing as technology and care improve. Now, infants with a gestational age from 23 weeks, and with some exceptions less, are being cared for. Because the professionals have become so adept at sustaining the infants’ lives, they now are focusing on their future development. “Their little brains are not as well developed, and there is a longer recovery period,” said Kathleen A. VandenBerg, a trainer in the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program.

Labels: Twins

Posted by B Feiler at 4:25 PM
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