Family picnic lets NICU 'graduates' reunite with nurses who cared for them

NICU families and nurses reunited CTV Windsor's Sanjay Maru catches up with the families of NICU babies and the nurses who helped them during a family picnic.

A new event in Windsor-Essex is giving children who entered this world as patients of the neonatal intensive care unit the opportunity to reunite with the nurses who cared for them.

Staff and nurses with Windsor Regional Hospital joined former patients and their parents Saturday at the Vollmer Complex in LaSalle, Ont. for a family picnic.

While most full-term babies are born between 5 and 10 lbs, Sarah Souilliere's daughter, Bayleigh, was born at the 28-week mark — at just 2 lbs.

"My blood pressure went up pretty high. I was diagnosed with preeclampsia," said Souilliere. “Also, my placenta just wasn't giving her enough blood flow. So I was on bed rest for three weeks at the hospital."

"Eventually, they decided that we need to take her out now,” she explained. “It was terrifying."

While the experience of seeing her newly-born daughter get sent to the NICU was stressful enough, Souilliere and her husband were going through it as newlyweds.

"We got married in August of last year and Bayleigh was born in October...Honestly, it solidified our marriage," said Souilliere, adding the harrowing journey also brought her closer to her daughter.

"I got a little extra time to watch her grow outside of utero,” she said. “It was amazing."

After 78 days, Bayleigh, now seven months old, was able to ‘graduate’ from the NICU.

But Souilliere acknowledges she and her husband were only able to remain strong because of the nurses.

"These nurses and doctors just really make you feel at home and show you how to care for your child. They were just amazing at making the journey that much easier for all the families there," she said.

Ashley Paterson, co-chair for the NICU's Family Advisory Care Team (FACT), is no stranger to the neonatal intensive care unit. Her twin daughters were born prematurely at 30 weeks and spent 76 days inside the NICU.

"While you're in the NICU, your nurse is your main go-to person. They're the person who's there, sitting by your bedside and helping you deal with everything that's coming your way," said Paterson.

"With the FACT committee, we're just trying to keep that relationship alive so that the families can give back and also give feedback about how we can make things a little better within the NICU,” she said.

But besides giving nurses the opportunity to reconnect with their former patients, Paterson said Saturday's picnic is also about giving NICU parents the chance to discuss the many obstacles they may have faced after their time in the neonatal unit has ended.

"The journey doesn't end when you leave the NICU. We had a lot of issues around feeding and we had a couple of surgeries for both of the twins," she said. "But in the NICU, there's so many wonderful nurses that surround you when you're there that it makes it all okay."