Ulster Hospital neonatal nurse creates book for parents

Transcript

00:00Beauty exists not only in what is seen and remembered, but in what is felt and never forgotten.

00:05Three, four years ago, I was working quite heavily with the bereavement side of neonatal.

00:10During that time, supporting parents to make memories, I came across a book over in the States.

00:15And it was created by a mummy who had went through neonatal care.

00:19And of course, all I thought was, oh, that's really nice.

00:23How could we replicate that, not just from the bereavement side, but from a parental experience?

00:29Parents that come through neonatal are grieving that normal birthing process,

00:33where you give birth to your baby, you have your baby beside you,

00:37you get to care for them, you look after them, you feed them, you clothe them, you change them.

00:41But when you come through neonatal, you're grieving that normal birthing process.

00:46And sometimes when you step through the doors of neonatal, you don't necessarily know what to do.

00:51It can be very overwhelming.

00:53So the idea sort of behind it was, well, we should really be making memories from the get-go.

00:58So it's to empower parents to get completely involved with their baby's care.

01:04When they are admitted, the idea is that the parents will get a book.

01:08We can talk through the book.

01:10They will have a little photograph taken of their baby, and then a little family page.

01:15So the purpose of the family page is that everybody that is important within that family unit

01:20can put their handprint in the page too.

01:22It's a really good idea.

01:24I like the photos that he can add to it to sort of make memories in the wee activities.

01:29Because you don't really think of them when you're in neonatal.

01:31You're thinking about the beeping of the monitors, but getting their wee first handprints and their footprints,

01:36and then the family activity, the thought put into it,

01:39as well as thinking that the staff are able to help as well.

01:42And you have wee moments in it where you can write a wee journal

01:45and let the staff be a part of that if you want to.

01:48As a parent, you're important.

01:50Your baby is important, and your family unit is also important.