For parents of babies in Aurora Sheboygan’s NICU over holidays, support of nurses will never be forgotten

SHEBOYGAN — Twenty-four days before her due date and two days before Thanksgiving, Samantha Alten gave birth to a baby girl.

Her baby, Hadley, was born with undetectable glucose levels and was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) before Alten got the chance to see or hold her. Hadley has been in the unit since, bypassing her due date, Thanksgiving, and nearing Christmas.

“We've been spending the last 24 days trying to get her well enough to be able to come home,” Alten said. “Luckily, she's only on the feeding tube yet. Hopefully, that little light bulb will click soon so she can come home with us.”

While Hadley’s arrival and stay in the NICU has been “extremely difficult,” the nurses and doctors at Aurora Medical Center – Sheboygan County, where Hadley was born and now stays, have been incredible, Alten said.

While having a baby stay in the hospital over the holidays can be particularly difficult on families, the NICU team creates crafts and decorates for the festivities so parents can enjoy their baby’s first holiday without worrying about them being in the hospital for the milestone.

“We try to do those fun little things with them that they would want to do at home, like the baby book that they have planned out for their handprints and footprints,” said Nicole Kraft, Aurora NICU nurse.

Kraft said spending time in the NICU can be frustrating for parents because a baby could get close to being ready to leave, then fall back into needing more time. This can be especially taxing during the holiday season when parents can’t bring their babies home after a potentially traumatic, early birth.

“No one plans on ending up in the NICU,” Kraft said.

There are many reasons a baby goes to the NICU, Kraft said. Additionally, some of the reasons they go in aren’t always the reason they stay, like Hadley not having a glucose reading when she was born but now staying because she needs help with feeding. Babies also vary in how long they stay, from hours to weeks.

Every year, NICUs provide care to more than 300,000 infants in the United States, according to the Health Care Cost Institute. The number of infants in Aurora’s NICU fluctuates, but typically ranges from two or three babies.

Kraft said the NICU is unique because the team takes care of the whole family, not just the patient who needs care.

“We always try to remind parents to take care of themselves,” Kraft said. “Because you can't pour from an empty glass and as much as no one wants to be in the NICU, it's a great opportunity to heal yourself, too.”

For Alten, Thanksgiving was made even more difficult because she was discharged on the holiday and had to leave her baby behind when she left.

“Our whole family was together for Thanksgiving, so I go,” she said. “And I don't know how many times I cried because, 'Oh, where's the baby?' 'Where's the baby?' And it's like, she's not with me. So, it's very difficult.”

Right now, Hadley is working on building her stamina so she can consistently eat without a feeding tube and go home. Alten said she and her family are planning Christmas right now and hope Hadley will be able to come home, but are taking it one day at a time.

Making the intensive care unit feel more like being home for the holidays

Alten said every time she comes to visit her daughter, it seems like something in her room has changed, whether it’s the winter decorations on Hadley’s door, a Christmas outfit she’s wearing or other Christmas decorations.

Kraft said they like doing crafts that make the families feel a sense of normalcy while also giving parents items and memories they can take with them to look back on baby’s firsts.

“Yesterday, Santa and Mrs. Claus came and visited her (Hadley), so there's a picture of her with them, which made me cry,” Alten said. “Because even if she is out, I'm not gonna take her to go, it's too much out and about. So, I was in tears because I'm like, OK, she did get her picture with Santa for the first time.”

Alten said the NICU has become like family to them and even though it’s “heart wrenching” to leave Hadley behind when they go home, it feels like she has NICU moms with her who are able to give her love and attention while they’re gone.

Every craft/activity the team does — footprint snowflakes, Father’s Day grilling buddy onesies, Bomb Pop footprint art — comes from ideas the team has or individualized parent interests. Crafts can be catered to families to make the unit feel more like home with the unit Cricut cutting machine.

In addition to crafts, the unit has an iPad they use to take photos and share updates with families. This allows busy parents and other family who can’t be in the hospital to see the baby feel like they aren’t missing out on the baby’s first weeks.

While the nurses try to schedule care times to correspond with when family is in the unit, sometimes COVID-19 protocols, distance or schedules get in the way. With the iPad, they can send photos throughout the day and capture moments like when a baby is able to drink all their food.

One emotional moment the team was able to photograph was Hadley's first time without any tubes or wires, Alten said. The team taking those few moments to snap that photo meant the world to Alten and her family, she said.

The photos are also valuable for families like Alten’s who have other children. Because of the need to be cautious and protect the infants, children are not allowed in the NICU, meaning Alten and her husband Tony’s two kids are not able to visit Hadley.

This is particularly hard on her 5-year-old daughter, Harper.

Before Alten knew she was pregnant with Hadley, Harper began talking to her belly. The next day, Alten took a pregnancy test and found out she was having a baby. She wasn’t even five weeks along.

“We officially announced it when we were at like three months,” Alten said. “She looked at me with that serious face, ‘I know already.’”

While Alten is on maternity leave and can visit Hadley between picking the other children up from school and being with the family, her husband is working, so he visits Hadley after his job. While he visits, Harper is able to video call Hadley.

Harper also has photos of Hadley hanging in her room and even carries around a photo of the baby in her backpack.

Alten said she can’t wait for the siblings to finally meet in person.

A nurse for the holidays

To make the crafts that make families feel less stressed about having a baby in the hospital on holidays, the nurses themselves must work over the season. They are watching families leave their babies behind in the unit and go through the strain of not knowing when they’ll make it home.

Kraft says while this can be stressful, she “absolutely loves” her job.

She said she enjoys being able to supply little comforts like door decorations or matching a baby’s outfit to their bedding to help take some stress off families.

Kraft began working in the NICU in March 2021 and said she often voluntarily chooses to work on or around holidays because she loves caring for the whole family during that time.

She said, sometimes, past patients will send Christmas cards and other updates and it makes the NICU team happy. She said they get excited to see the updates and often think about babies who leave and how much they’ve grown.

Alten said it’s indescribable how it feels to be able to have the NICU team in Sheboygan and have the nurses and doctors who treat their children like their own.

“We’ll never forget it,” she said.

Have a story tip or public interest concern? Contact Sam Bailey at sgbailey@gannett.com or 573-256-9937. To stay up to date on her stories and other news, follow her on X (Twitter) @SamarahBailey.

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Aurora Medical Center Sheboygan NICU nurses bring holidays to babies