NICU - Olivia's Story

http://www.mmcfamilybirthcenter.org Ashley LaRochelle was brought from New Hampshire to Maine Medical Center Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit at 21 weeks with complications to her pregnancy. Thanks to the expertise and support of her NICU care team, baby Olivia, born at 23 weeks, was released on her 4 month birthday. She recently celebrated her first birthday and is a healthy and happy little girl.

To learn more about MMC's Family Birth Center and NICU, visit http://www.mmcfamilybirthcenter.org

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

[music]

ASHLEY LAROCHELLE: I was about 21 weeks pregnant and woke up about three in the morning to just bleeding and things that were a little bit concerning. So I called an ambulance right away. We went first to a local hospital and then stabilized and transferred to Maine Med.

ASHLEY: When I heard them call for the NICU team, I panicked because I could feel that she was coming out and I didn't think that they would get there in time. So mostly, I just thought we had lost her then. So, obviously extremely upset and tears were flowing.

The room was just filled with doctors and nurses. And from there, they told me just to push and she was out a couple minutes later. And the NICU team was incredible. They head her on a ventilator right away and they were able to open her up and get her breathing a little bit. They showed her to me and then whisked her away. And I went up to be with her and got to hold her hand for at least a few minutes. She had the lowest odds that she could possibly have had. I figured okay. We have a few days. And maybe just a few hours.

DR. PETER MARRO: Here at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital, we have over 700 admissions of newborn babies each and every year. Many of those babies are premature babies and a lot of those babies are term babies who have other special needs. And those special needs could include babies who have surgical needs, who have birth defects and who just need a few days to transition from delivery.

It is the largest neonatal intensive care unit in the state. Not only do we have eight board-certified neonatologists, we have a number of sub-specialists. That includes pediatric cardiology, pediatric surgery, pediatric pulmonology, pediatric nephrology. So we really can take comprehensive care of a baby should it have more specialized needs.

It's more important for us to involve the families to let us know what their concerns are, to have them understand what is going on with their baby, but also to involve them in the decision-making. And we consider them part of the healthcare team.

We've come to know our families and our babies and we get great joy and pleasure into helping those babies get home.

ASHLEY: It's a roller coaster. It's one moment, being so excited that she opened her eyes for the first time, and then the next moment hearing a doctor say, "well, she has to go to surgery now and she may not survive the surgery."

It was still really touch-and-go for a long time, I would say, until she was around two months old. Instead of saying "if" she goes home, they were saying "when" she goes home.

Good job! [kiss]

We had some fantastic nurses. One of them, she helped me to wash my hair and just keep myself feeling pretty good. And actually, the day that Livi was born, she noticed that things were kind of going south in my attitude. And she said, you know, we can have some staff come in and talk to you, if you want someone to talk to, just let me know. I'm here. For her to notice that, that was pretty impressive. And it's a good feeling to know that they're looking out for your whole health.

And this is her blanky that was signed by all of our NICU friends. We have doctors and nurses and her O.T. signed it. One of her doctors said my new favorite children's story is the story of you. So that was really sweet.

It was more, I think, that we made such good friends. Leaving them knowing that we weren't going to see them every single day. I mean, we were at a point where, because I was sleeping there, I was waking up and seeing our nurse.

Do you want a snack?

When we actually got home, it was a little more overwhelming than we thought with doing her medicines and stuff by ourselves, but so very nice to finally be able to sit on our couch and just snuggle.

What do you think, is it yummy?

She overcame absolutely everything and she's healthy. I can't even believe I can tell you she's off of oxygen, she doesn't have to have any monitors on her any more.

Looking back at her pictures it's going to be incredible to put her album together for her first year and to see how far she's come.

[music]

She's just absolutely amazing.

She's our dream come true.

Love you.