Parents will continue to receive photographs of their newborn babies while they’re in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), thanks to your generous donations.
Some babies born with certain conditions, or after a complicated birth, have to be whisked straight to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) – meaning their parents are unable to see them for the first few hours of their lives, and may be unable to hold them for several days or even weeks.A grant of £518 will supply more print cartridges and special photographic paper for the NICU to use for admission photos and to capture those first milestones, such as baby’s first bath. These photos provide much needed comfort at a worrying time for families. It can also help parents who wish to breastfeed, express milk in the first few days.
For families who live far away and are unable to visit as often as they like, the photos are part of a diary of care. Staff use the diary to record positive events and special moments so that parents don’t miss out.
Although the funding amount is small, the impact is significant for parents and carers of the over 1,500 poorly and premature babies treated at City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Centre each year.
Mum Sophie Parkins said: “I remember when our son George was transferred to QMC NICU, I followed the next day in an ambulance and was admitted to a ward for ten days. He was still in emergency surgery, to save his life. George then ‘lived’ on one floor, me on another, and his daddy in parent accommodation, down the corridor from George.
“The photos given to me, of my very poorly newborn baby, were unbelievably precious. As I expressed through the night, that’s all I had. Unable to walk from the birth trauma, I relied on someone pushing me in a wheelchair to another floor to simply and only, look at my baby.
“This charity and the QMC hospital mean everything to me, since George was born. Photographic paper will mean nothing to many, but everything to the parents and carers with poorly and premature babies. Thank you Nottingham Hospitals Charity, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Nottingham Children's Hospital for everything you did for my little Super George, now aged four, and for me.”