Day in the life of a DOCTOR: Shadowing NICU NURSE PRACTITIONER (ft. premature babies)

Babies born at 22 weeks (5.5 months) can survive!! Join me in the largest NICU in Canada and learn about the lifesaving treatments for premature babies! I'll be shadowing Nikki, a nurse practitioner who works in the neonatal ICU. Plus you'll meet baby Kalani who was born at 23 weeks and her mother, Paola.

**note: at the time this video was filmed, Nikki was a nurse practitioner candidate. She will be fully licensed after passing her final exam. For simplicity, I have referred to her as a nurse practitioner.

HUGE THANK YOU to Nikki, Paola, baby Kalani, and then entire NICU team!

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Mail: PO Box 1, 119 Spadina Ave, Toronto ON, Canada, M5T2T2

See you in the next video!
~ Siobhan (Violin MD) ~

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📸 Image Credits:

[Official_Jenninator]

When Nikki was explaining the foot prints she has I teared up. Such a kind and caring soul ❤️❤️

[kearam]

As someone who works in the medical ICU, the NICU is an entirely different ball game!! Those tiny humans are so fragile. I commend my colleagues who work with our smallest patients. Great video! Thanks for sharing xx

[potatoprsk]

As someone who was born premature, it's amazing to see these kinds of procedures! I remember my mom telling me all these stories of my birth and I was able to look though my records when i got older in a patient portal, and there were SO many x-rays, check ups, etc done and a lot of them were abnormal! I was able to officially get home, no more doctor visits, around Feb the next year. I was born 3 months early at barely 2 pounds back in Sept (so I was due Dec), I will always thank the nurses and doctors at the NICU for working hard to rescue me

[drpyro]

We lived at Mac with our daughter in the NICU for 343 days (from 2018-2019), we knew Nikki very well in D pod! We still have a genuine Nurse Nikki scrapbook page hanging on our daughter's wall. This video brought back a lot of memories and feelings, both good and anxious. But it was very nice to see so many familiar faces -- it is SO important to showcase the work they are doing! Thank you Violin MD for taking the time to show the world what these amazing humans can do -- staff and babies!

[jessiewhitman]

As a former NICU mom..this really touched me. Thankfully my son was there for about 2 wks; but it was a very stressful 2wks. The nurses really do make a difference. When my son's heart stopped I was in my room; I coded at the same exact time. When I was able the nurses brought me to the NICU and made a little space for me to be right next to him. I will NEVER forget the nurses. When I got sent home they called me EVERY time something happened. I will forever be grateful to them. Because of them and the doctors my son is now 13and taller than I am.

[Kateski]

I just learned that I was accepted into the NICU for my nursing school senior partnership. I spent some time there over the summer and was just so inspired by the stories and growth of the babies. It’s such a special place to be. Thank you for highlighting this beautiful place!❤️

[winterbluesss]

i love that you sat down with the mother! that’s so incredible you let her talk about the parents perspective. this is exactly the medicine i want to go into so it’s lovely seeing it from both a parents and medical professionals point of view. thank you for your videos !

[tiff]

I applaud NICU nurses, doctors and the whole team. Handling and caring for these tiny humans must be so challenging!

[alexxandriazamorano]

My son was born very premature, only 1.1lbs, & watching this video had me in tears from start to end. When the momma said “nobody understands” ..girl-an understatement. One minute amazing news, the next scary news. My son passed away at 9 days old but his nurses still keep in touch with my husband & I, & it means so much. tiny baby nurses are a true blessing. & I could never thank them enough for taking care of my son & our family.

[keljayks]

My former 27 weeker is a graduate of the McMaster NICU and I can’t thank the doctors and nurses enough! In 15 yes some things have changed and some have not. Boy the memories come flooding back 🥲 Best wishes to sweet Kalani and her mom. My thoughts are with you. Lots of love from a mom who’s been there💕

[ameliasandoval]

2x preemie mom here and currently pregnant with my 3rd. Hearing Paolo's comment on how others "just don't get it" struck with me. All I could here was "you are so lucky they're alive, congrats!". Yes, I AM lucky they are alive, and I will never forget that.. But it also doesn't mean we didn't face extreme struggles during our NICU stay.

[ManicMama.]

My daughter was born at 29 weeks and was in the NICU for almost 2 months. And then one of my sons was also in the NICU for about 3 weeks. I spent a lot of time there and the nurses are incredible. The NICU definitely holds a special place in my heart ❤️

[Ian_T]

My aunt is a NICU nurse. I applaud her for everything she does. It really takes a super special person to work in a NICU and I applaud every NICU nurse out there!

[willow_haven]

I was in hospital for 4 weeks prior to my baby being born at 34 weeks. Shes still in the nicu, recovering from a sepsis infection and breathing issues. The nicu is such a rollercoster of emotions but our care team is so incredibly comforting and I feel good knowing shes getting amazing care.

[andidotx]

I had my late preterm angel at 34 weeks on 10/26/21 so as a NICU mama I agree that parents can’t understand what it’s like to have a NICU baby until you have one. Not having skin to skin right away, not having your baby in the room with you after, having to pump in a room by yourself and walk over milk multiple times a night, having to leave your baby in the hospital when you are discharged, then going to the hospital everyday and spending 6+ hours a day sitting bedside with your baby is rough. It was the worse/best 10 days of my life…

All of our nurses were amazing and I truly believe being a NICU nurse is a calling. Our nurses became friends and I am so grateful for them ❤️

[starlingcrossing]

Thank you for giving the mother the time and space to talk about her experience. As a future aspiring neonatologist, this was very valuable to hear

[bucs]

This brings up all sorts of memories. My first daughter was born at 29 weeks at Texas Children's in Houston. We spent 2 weeks at the Level 4 NICU there, day and night. Unfortunately, she had HLHS and there was nothing that could be done for her. So, we had to let her go. All of the nurses and doctors were the most amazing, caring people and did everything possible to support us and make us comfortable knowing our daughter was most likely never going to leave the hospital. Her little sister was born at 36 weeks, 2 months ago, and also was in the NICU for a few days, but is doing great.
Like it was mentioned in the video, you can never truly "get it" unless you've been a NICU parent, but this video does a great job highlighting the amazing work these folks are doing on a daily basis caring for these tiny babies

[Cars.or.Cardioversion]

Even with all my ER experience, sick babies still get my heart pumping. Recently had an intubated toddler that I feel I would continuously double and triple check everything; and that was a toddler, not a premie. Kudos to NICU staff, I couldn't do it.

[katherine]

I had my baby at 27 weeks, weighing 845g, due to severe pre eclampsia. This brought back so many memories- I was terrified and overwhelmed the first time I went into the NICU. Thankfully she did really well and is now 12 and totally healthy. I didn't see her until she was 24 hours old and we didn't get to hold her for 3 weeks (me) and nearly 4 weeks for my husband.

I could identify so much with what Paula was saying to you. We even had so many people wanting to visit her that we had to make a rota - loads of my husband's colleagues who I'd never met, and other people who we've never seen since. It felt as if they were all just wanting to see the tiniest baby they'd ever seen. I had people telling me I was lucky not to have had to push an 8lb baby out and that we were lucky to be able to sleep for the first 3 months of her life while she was in hospital- as if we slept! I was up expressing every 3 hours and we were both so worried we didn't sleep well at all. Thank you for this video and what you and all your wonderful colleagues do.

[heatherholland]

Awe! I had my son at 33 weeks. He spent almost a month in the NICU. I have severe preeclampsia and we both almost died. We are lucky to be alive. He will be 5 next month