A NICU is a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. This is where lives are literally saved, some by the hour. Your newborn baby is the most precious thing in your life, something you can say you created and nurtured for nine months.
What if there is an unexpected health issue, or you deliver your little one too early? Thankfully, there are some of the most accredited nurses and physicians in the industry providing care in these units, putting your son or daughter 's life first.
The NICU can be a very confusing place, even intimidating at first glance. There are very specific rules to entering and exiting the area and who can visit the babies inside. If you have older children, you may need special permission to have them visit the baby. Inside you will find incubators, jaundice lights, and heart monitors all the tools the care givers will need to care properly for your child.
In the United States, there are three levels of care inside a NICU:
Level I: This is a basic care room inside a hospital that offers labor and delivery suites. Most city hospitals will have these and some located in suburbs as well, they are not that advanced and if your baby has a lot of concerns medically, odds are they will be transferred to a higher level NICU in your town. This Level I facility provides postnatal care for infants, ones that are at term or just under it with the capacity to care for infants from 35 weeks gestational age and up.
Level II:
This facility bodes two variations, a 2A and 2B-
2A: They offer care to infants born from 32 weeks gestational age and above. Infants can weigh 1500g and can be treated for such ailments as jaundice, apnea, temperature, and learn how to properly feed via mouth versus the tube.
2B: This variation can do exactly as aforementioned in the 2A facility and also care for ventilation systems, for those infants that have premature lung development which is extremely common in babies less than 36 weeks old.
Level III:
This is the Mother of all NICU facilities, where miracles literally occur inside. If you have a baby at 28 weeks gestational age and up they can aide them to excellent health. Many moms assume if they have a baby too early such as 30 weeks, their baby will not survive and thanks to the Level III facilities, millions of babies are saved each and everyday. They can care for babies that weigh 1000g, ones that need ventilation, minor surgical practices, life support, catheters, feeding tubes, PIC lines, and so on.
There are far less Level III NICU institutions around the world than there are the lower scale ones due to the tremendous amount of care they have the ability to provide their patients. In 1999 alone, there were a reported 830 NICU's in the US alone, creating a lot of hope for new parents of a preemie to get the help and intensive care they may need for their baby.
