Kids & Family
Centreville Family Among Attendees of Inova Fair Oaks NICU Reunion
Inova Fair Oaks Hospital held a reunion for "graduates" of the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Heather Fehr has given birth to two premature babies in the last two years. Each time, she said, the doctors and nurses at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital help she and her children pull through.
First, there was her daughter, Daisy, who arrived 10 weeks early and spent six weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Fair Oaks Hospital in Fairfax, the Centreville mother said.
Her son, Raiden, was delivered four months ago at six weeks premature and spent 13 days in the NICU.
The prognosis for both Raiden and Daisy, who is now a healthy bouncy, 17-month-old, are excellent, said Fehr who attended the Inova Fair Oaks' NICU Reunion on Sunday at Navy Elementary School in Fairfax.
"Daisy was in therapy—speech and physical—and she got kicked out of both of those ... she's perfectly normal," she said. "There are no concerns about him (Raiden) as well. I lucked out completely."
The event was attended by more than 200 children that once needed the constant care of the NICU staff.
Fehr said it was important for her to attend Sunday's event so she and her family could see the nurses and doctors who cared for her children and made sure they came home.
"I came to connect with the nurses because they were just phenomenal," she said.
Inova Fair Oaks Nurse manager Penny Fuller has spent more than 30 years caring for the smallest and sickest of infants who need constant medical care. She now supervises a staff of 35 nurses in the hospital's NICU.
The ward sees about 360 babies each year, or about 10 percent of the 3,500 babies born yearly within the hospital system.
She is most proud of the nursing staff, who she describes as a good mix of veteran and young nurses.
But she is also very proud Fair Oaks is the only hospital in the area that has private rooms in its NICU.
Private rooms are important because they allow mothers and families to have their own space in which to visit with their children, bond and breastfeed, Fuller said.
There are private bathrooms and showers for mothers who want to spend the night at the hospital with their children, she said.
Because they have more time together, studies show babies in a private NICU environment go home faster than babies who are cared for in a traditional NICU setting, Fuller said.
Because of the positive results, many more hospitals in the area are moving toward a private NICU, she said.
Fuller and the other nurses were excited to see NICU graduates and check on their progress.
Often, after babies leave the hospital the staff doesn't know what becomes of the children they spent so many hours watching over.
The annual NICU reunion is a way for the nurses and physicians to get updates and face time with their former patients.
The reunion is also good for the parents of NICU children, said Kelly Cummins, the NICU Family Support Specialist at Inova Fair Oaks.
Parents need to know they are not alone in their challenge and that there are others like them, Cummins said.
Babies who were treated in the NICU up to six years ago were invited to Sunday's event. About 400 families accepted the invitation to the event and sent along pictures, stories and updates for the NICU graduate slide show and scrap book featured at the reunion.
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