Posting Pictures

Most of us nurses, especially in NICU try to take time for the little things. We take pictures to show moms who are to sick to see their babies right away, or for moms to see when they pump at home. We post a picture or two at the best side of big moments, a first bottle, joining the 1 kilo club...

Occasionally though a baby will have multiple pictures at the bedside.

I was noticing this last night while feeding one of my babes. I thought:

"wow I wonder if parents see that kids many pictures and wonder why their child doesn't have the same treatment?"

Then it occurred to me.

The only times I've seen multiple picture at a child's bedside is a baby the nurses feel badly for. The babies that the nurses don't know what else they can do so we "adopt" these wee ones into our hearts and proudly display pictures as if they were our own.

It is the little boy whose Brain scans show extensive brain damage and a 90% likelihood of cerebral palsy.

The itsy bitsy girl who cries like a squeaky little mouse, who was born so small because her twin brother received all the nutrients, and who now has no chance of catching up as she pukes and retches with every feed for no reason.

Most recently it is the little boy whose was sectioned for a low heart rate that just got lower and lower and was 0 at 1 min of age and at 5 and at 10 yet miraculously survived....to be abandoned by his parents who don't want a baby with possible brain damage.

These are the babies with multiple pictures at their bedside,not necessarily something to be envied. It seems to be a way of helping nurses cope with the kids they feel helpless to help.