A Day in the Life of A Neonatologist

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a neonatologist…..even before I could pronounce the word I was convinced that I would grow up to take care of tiny babies. When I was a little girl my mother suffered an ectopic pregnancy and almost lost her life due to rupture of the fallopian tubes. I remember being afraid when she had to go to the hospital…I also remember been very grateful when my father returned to say that the doctors had saved my mother’s life. I decided then that I wanted to be involved in helping people in this way…that my work itself could bring others joy.

Later as I became older I began to ask my parents many questions about why my sister and I were only ten months apart. May parents shared that my sister had been born prematurely and weighed less than 2 pounds. She was born almost three months early. She had been tube fed and spent a lot of time growing in a plastic box! I thought cool…I want to not only just take care of people…I want to take of the families with the babies in the plastic boxes…eventually I would come to learn that those people were called Neonatologists and those boxes were called incubators. Today my sister is 43 years young and perfectly healthy…she is truly a miracle as NICU’s (neonatal intensive care units) didn’t have half the things then that we have now to care for premature babies and she was born during the same time that President Kennedy’s son lost his life to prematurity.

So now many years later and after 14 years of training I still marvel at the fact that I am a neonatologist. As I am sure most of you know…a neonatologist is a specialized pediatrician that focuses on the care and management of sick premature infants and sick term infants. We work primarily in a hospital setting in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (UNIT). Almost half of our patients are born unexpectedly to parents who received adequate prenatal care. And many of these babies will lose their lives or remain in the hospital for several months after delivery. Many will go home with equipment and have challenges that continue even after they leave the NICU. And some are destined to be angels here on Earth and will not survive life beyond the NICU or even the delivery room. It is both a scary place and a joyous place…I truly do see a miracle every day and am so grateful for the privilege to be present with these families.

So what is a typical day life for me? I would say there is not typical day! Each day is filled with multiple challenges and opportunities including very high ups and really low downs. At any given time I am caring for between 15 and 20 intensive care patients and their families. There are babies who may have been one pound at birth, who are very sick, requiring lots of medicines, respiratory support and procedures and those who are now older and maturing to develop their suck and swallow reflex to eat successfully so that they can go home. There are other babies who may have only been 1 or 2 months early and are 3 or 4 pounds who have not been very sick but still remain in the NICU waiting to get “big” enough to eat and to go home. And sadly, there are also babies who are so sick that nothing you do is going to work and they force you to realize that ultimately we are not in control. And then there are the deliveries that occur all day throughout my day in the NICU. The delivery team is primarily Nurse practitioners unless a specific request is made by the mom’s doctor for the neonatologist to attend.

What a privilege and a blessing to be able to attend deliveries. We are allowed access into an experience that family members may not be able to share. Every time I see a baby that can fit in to the palm of my hand I am reminded what a gift this life is and that we are all created in his image. Every time I see a baby who is full term who still has trouble breathing or is sick I am again reminded of what a miracle birth is and of all the things that need to come together in a divine plan for it all to work out.

When I am there in the delivery room assessing breathing, color, heart rate, tone and making sure the baby is warm. I am placing a breathing tube if I need to and with the assistance of my delivery team making the sure the baby has adequate oxygen. In the midst of the delivery and the resuscitation, I am also trying to make sure that Father’s and Mother’s questions, concerns are addressed…particularly because in this moment nothing that we are doing was part of their birth plan or their wish for this pregnancy. And I too am reminded of my two healthy children at home and that I want the same for every family I meet.

As I mentioned before I get to see a miracle every day when I am caring for these babies…and I get to see heroes every day as well when I meet the wonderful families of these babies. They are absolutely the best; and they really endure great sacrifices daily as they travel through the NICU course with their babies. Sometimes I wonder just how they do it…and I am so inspired. I can truly say that if I won the lottery tomorrow I would still do this job. Wouldn’t trade the privilege, the blessing the ministry that it is for all the money in the world! It’s a paycheck of the heart every day! So while I hope that no family ever has to come to the NICU…I do want families to know that if you do have to come…we are here and we care!