Health & Wellness

Parent Edition | 11th Annual | 2014

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Health and Wellness Magazine • 21 Sanela Adrovic was scared when nurses placed her newborn baby on her chest seconds after his birth. He looked tiny and fragile, just topping 3 pounds, as his unexpected arrival came 11 weeks too soon. Still, Adrovic did what any mother would do to welcome her child into the world: "I hug him," the Bosnia native says, in her slightly choppy English. But little did she know, that simple, loving act signaled a course that lay ahead for weeks to come. As baby Riad struggled for his life in Rose Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for the next eight weeks, Adrovic used the power of a mother's touch to help him heal and grow. Thanks to increasing evidence of its many benefits, and the efforts of three Rose nurses who took it upon themselves to encourage its use in the NICU, a practice called Kangaroo Care became Adrovic's main focus throughout her baby's hospital stay. NICU parents often feel helpless, wanting to care for their new babies as nature intended, but isolated by the plastic incubators and wired equipment that is a preemie baby's world. Kangaroo Care, which dads can do, too, helps them be a part of their little ones' care, says NICU nurse Tammy Hendrix, who launched "Roo in the NICU" with fellow nurses Tracy Anderson and Tammy Yoho after reviewing the research as part of a master's thesis. Filling a need "It made you full, like you wanted to burst, when he touched your skin," says Adrovic, a Denver resident. "I told them: You are giving me something to do, which in my right mind, I should be doing." For Adrovic, whose native country forbids parents in the NICU, allowing them only to peer at their babies through a wall of glass sometimes for months, the experience was particularly profound. With Kangaroo Care, or KC, preemies clad only in diapers are placed on their mother's bare chest and tucked inside a blanket, like a baby kangaroo in its pouch. "It was the most incredible feeling to have our son back where I felt he belonged," says Julie Gladnick, another NICU Rose mother, whose son, Owen, was born at 29 weeks weighing 3 pounds, 2 ounces. "Holding Owen skin-to-skin was the most peaceful part of my world for many, many weeks," says Gladnick, of Denver. "It was like a piece of heaven in an otherwise chaotic world." KC encourages that love and bonding between parent and child, which, in itself, can play a role in a child's development, research shows. But the benefits to baby go well beyond bonding, Hendrix says. "It was like a piece of heaven in an otherwise chaotic world." – Julie Gladnick, NICU mom Kangaroo care enricHes outcomes For rose BaBies Bonding in tHE niCu Call us today 303.575.0055 are you or a loved one in need of a doctor? We're here to help. a HealthoNE representative can answer your questions and help you find the right physician, close to home. Adjacent page (left): Riad Adrovic. Adjacent page (right): Owen Gladnick. Left: Julie Gladnick coaxes a smile from Owen. Below: Riad enjoys the swing with his mom, Sanela Adrovic. Both boys received Kangaroo Care from their mothers as they overcame the challenges of being born too soon in Rose Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

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