UAMS Pediatrics

I've found that the hardest question to answer while working in the nursery is "When can my baby go home?".  I discovered this the hard way in my first week after we had to restart bili lights multiple times on one baby and IV fluids again and again on another. Both were small for their gestational age and just when we thought they were ready to go home, the Tbili would rebound or the glucose would trend down.

When I would walk into the room each morning I could see the parents searching my face for some indication if this would be the day. It was a bit easier to say that the baby needed to stay another day now that the new nursery is open. Every room is private with a bed and bathroom for the parents so they can stay as long as they like. When there are twins or triplets there are even rooms designed so that the babies can stay together. This doesn't make it easy to keep the newborns away from home, but I think it helps.