A child sits on chair in the shade of a folding tent and lifts a small cheek to a paintbrush as happy voices shout greetings over dance music playing in the background on gorgeous day in a Munster park.
Nearby Jordan Mora, 26, and her son, Sebastian, 3, are being lovingly inspected by a group of women in orange T-shirts. The women are Neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurses and had tended to both the mother and child — two of the longtime nurses also cared for the mother as an infant. This festive event is a reunion for the 33-year–old Community Hospital NICU families and staff.
The mother and child were among the many families celebrating the reunion Oct. 10 in Munster.
Sebastian weighed 1 pound 15 ounces when he was born at 25 weeks in 2011. His mother, Jordan, weighed 1 pound 1 ounce when she was born at 28 weeks in 1989.
“He looks wonderful,” said Cindy Hasse, a registered nurse, about Sebastian, who was patiently tolerating adult attention and noting the music, games and excitement around him. The event offered a variety of booths featuring children’s games, educational material and giveaways, as well as an abundant picnic lunch.
The NICU has been remodeled twice since it opened in 1982 and recently doubled in size to 32 beds as part of an overall $33 million hospital renovation that included the creation of a Family Birthing Center.
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Michelle Cherry, nurse manager of the NICU, said two of the significant changes in care over the years include the advances in pulmonary technology that helps avoid intubation of the preemies whenever possible and the expansion of the NICU’s breastfeeding program.
The breastfeeding program is staffed by women who delivered their babies in the NICU. They attended and special training and were hired to work with new mothers. The aim is to make sure the new mothers are more involved in the care of the newborns.
Angelica Guzman of Hammond, one of the breastfeeding care counselors who works in the NICU, talked as she guided her small boys through their picnic lunch at the reunion. Both of her boys were delivered in the NICU — one at 26 weeks and five days, the other at 28 weeks. They are now 3 and 17 months.
“I go to the moms who are breastfeeding and get them started with pumping,” she said. “I share my background as a NICU mom and I help them transfer from pumping to breastfeeding. I am there for support and lactation help.”
Mothers delivering babies in the NICU lose a lot of control over the care of their newborn, Cherry said, and added “Breastfeeding pulls her in and it is something she can have 100 percent control over.”
There are a variety of reasons a family might need the services of NICU, according to Carla Meyer, director of nursing for Community Hospital. Some babies, like Jordan, Sebastian and Guzman’s children are born many weeks early. Others, like Justin Rios, 21, were born at full-term, but experienced complications.
“Justin was in NICU for almost two months,” said his mother, Saandra Walsh. Walsh remembers how the nurses dressed him in a costume and took his picture so he wouldn’t miss out on his first Halloween.
Jenn Deenihan said her son, Quinn, was born during an emergency Caesarean section and spent three days in NICU due to fluid in his lungs.
Registered nurse Diane Homans said she delivered two babies who were cared for in the unit.
“These guys took care of my kids,” she said of the women gathered around her.
Jordan Mora reflected on her experience and what is was like for her and her family to find themselves in the NICU a second time.
“My mom told me, when she first saw Sebastian, it was a flashback. His doctor was my doctor,” Jordan said. “They treated Sebastian like their own. It was like family.”
For Hasse’s part, the day was significant. “It’s nice to see how everything turns out.”
Nancy Coltun Webster is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.