Tales from the NICU: Celebrating STHS’s snuggliest patients
STHS Communication Department, commdept@stph.org
Recent ‘graduates’ of the St. Tammany Health System Neonatal Intensive Care Unit include, from left, Peter Shepherd, Ethan King Boston and Judah Sanders. September is NICU Awareness Month.
(Submitted photos)
September is Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Awareness Month, and, since St. Tammany Health System’s New Family Center has long been the Northshore’s premiere maternity unit – with 60,000 babies born since 1954, and counting – we thought we’d ask the parents of some of our snuggliest patients to share their experiences.
Below are their stories.
Kathryn Esposito’s son was delivered early, at 36 weeks, and had difficulty oxygenating and clearing fluid from his lungs. That led to a four-day stay in St. Tammany Health System’s NICU.
“(What I remember most about my stay in the NICU is) the love and compassion of the nurses that cared for my son. They were understanding and went above and beyond to help not only my son but my husband and me through a very unknown and scary time. (Nurse) Alyssa Callais spent extra time with us, helping me to breastfeed for the first time and answer all of our questions throughout his NICU stay. She was a bright light during his stay in the NICU!! It was so appreciated to see a familiar face each day and the continuity of care my son had! We also loved Dr. Zatarain! She also went above and beyond for my family. She put my panicked first-time-mom mind at ease knowing he was in her care!”
Due to medical complications, Kayla Sanders went into labor at 23 weeks. The staff did what they could to stop the labor, but an emergency C-section was required to save the life of both her and her son, Judah, who stayed in the St. Tammany Health System NICU for 16 weeks.
“I remember going into the emergency C-section in pain and scared. One of the NICU nurses, Amber Snyder, held me while they were preparing me for surgery. She told me she was a NICU nurse and was here to help my baby. In the chaos and fear, she was so calm and caring. Given that he was 23 weeks, I didn’t know what I would be waking up to following the surgery. When I woke up, Dr. Zatarain was there to tell me my baby was on the ventilator and they would continue to do everything they could for him.
“Over the next 112 days, I spent every day in the NICU. The staff took excellent care of Judah, both as professionals and people who cared about him and his family. Every milestone reached was celebrated, and every time we had a setback, they were there to answer all our questions, hold our hands and encourage us. They always had a plan to go forward. As a mother, leaving your very fragile child is an emotion only mothers can relate to. I visited during the day, in the middle of the night and I never met a nurse that I didn’t feel was giving Judah the utmost care and compassion. I could leave knowing he was in good hands. The nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists and physicians rallied around us and Judah.
“When Judah was 3 weeks old, the staff at the NICU came together and developed a plan for me to hold my baby for the first time. He was still under 2 pounds, and on the oscillator ventilator, so it required a lot of care. Alyssa Callais and Kayla Bryson along with respiratory staff and other nurses, gently and carefully placed Judah on my chest while they held his ventilator. It was only for a few minutes, but there are no words to describe holding your baby for the first time, especially when you didn’t know if you ever would.
“I loved having the Angel Eyes camera system, where I could watch my baby 24/7. Ellen Loop was one of Judah’s main NICU nurses, and she was amazing. I loved watching the cameras early in the mornings during shift change, because he was usually awake. I could tell when Ellen was there because he loved how she would come in first thing and talk to him in her special ‘Ellen’ voice. I could watch him and tell if it was Ellen and then before long would see her hands in the isolette. As he grew, he would respond to her and Alyssa Callais’ voice almost as much as he would mine, and I loved it. I still try to do an ‘Ellen’ voice in the mornings with him at home!”
E’Laine Robinson has had all of her children at St. Tammany Health System. However, her youngest, Ethan King Boston, was born at 25 weeks, necessitating a 112-day stay in the St. Tammany NICU due to premature lung development.
“The main memories I have from his stay in the NICU is feeling hopeless and helpless and how the staff made sure I was in the loop with everything pertaining to my baby. … (I’m) grateful to have had such caring and understanding staff to take care of my baby.
Kalicca Pistorius is a stay-at-home-mom who is a former nurse at St. Tammany Health System, so she knew that “St. Tammany is the best ‘baby-making’ hospital around.” After working a shift one day, her blood pressure rose to dangerous levels, so she returned to the hospital and was admitted. Two days later, her son was born at 32 weeks and 5 days. He would stay in the NICU for 33 days.
“My baby was born during COVID, in May 2020. When I was admitted, my husband wasn’t allowed to come see me until the day I delivered, which was extremely hard on both of us. He met our baby once, right after I gave birth, and then didn’t see him again until the day I brought him home. The NICU didn’t allow more than one visitor in a 24-hour period, and since I was breastfeeding, it made sense that I would go daily. The nurses were AMAZING! My son was under bili lights for the first few days, and I would come and they would let me hold him and love on him. They were very informative every step of the way! I would call every morning for an update and then every night after I put my four other kids to bed, I would head to the hospital to do the 9 p.m. feeding. It also helped that I knew the nurses and worked with the doctors on a professional level. The day he came home, June 24, Dr. Zatarain called me and said ‘You can come get him,’ I hauled butt to the hospital in case they changed their minds! Haha. …
“It was a good experience for what it was. No one wants to leave their baby at the hospital and go home. There were lots of tears, lots of stress, but we were blessed! We had a great hospital family taking care of the baby.”
The St. Tammany Health System NICU is a 14-bed Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit operating as part of the health system’s celebrated New Family Center. Learn more about the New Family Center, and take a video tour, at StTammany.health/NewFamily.