This is going to be more of a reflective post given that I have had a couple of more reflective months at work in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). First off, I'll start off by saying that working with babies can make you really want to have some of your own, but it can also be really good birth control when you see all the complications that can occur. In the almost-two years that I have worked in a baby ICU, the endings have been mostly happy ones with the babies getting well and going home healthy. However, this spring has been a very hard one for some reason with lots of sick babies and not-so-happy endings. Medicine has come so far and we are able to keep younger and younger babies alive. But I'm beginning to realize that it is not always for the best. Some of these kids born 12-16 weeks early end up severely disabled as a result of complications of their prematurity. Yes, we may be able to keep them alive, but then to live for the rest of their life on a breathing machine? That just doesn't seem right or fair. It is such a sticky subject! I honestly do not know what I would do if I were the parents of these babies. I pray that I will never have to be put in a situation where I will have to make the decision to withdraw life support for the sake of the baby's quality of life. Today we had a mom decide not to intervene and resuscitate her now 2 month old if she is unable to breathe on her own (she hasn't been able to for her entire 10 weeks of life). My heart broke for this mom! I really do respect her choice as I know this baby's future would not have been an easy one. Wow, really tough stuff. It sure makes all the "problems" in my life fade in comparison, doesn't it?
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