*Parts of this blog post were taken from our original blog post, written by Jim Helm and James Perciaccante, MD. Parents and caregivers recognize the importance and impact that developmental care has on the health and development of premature babies. The Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) is an approach to providing developmentally supportive care to infants […]
As an Ob-Gyn, among the most devastating news I can share with my patient is that they are experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth. What is a miscarriage? A miscarriage is any pregnancy loss that occurs during the first 20 weeks of the pregnancy, which is around the 5th month. Even though there is some awareness […]
In the United States, 80% or more of pregnancies among adolescents age 15 to 19 years are unintended. National surveys report that ⅓ of high school students are sexually active and only ⅓ of those reported use effective contraception. Barriers to Seeking Contraception Potential barriers might include concerns about confidentiality or cost as well as […]
View a printable version of this blog post here. You take a pregnancy test at home….and it’s positive. Now what? The questions start running through your head: What should you be eating or not eating? Can you continue your regular workouts? Are your prescription medications okay for the baby? Now you don’t have to wait […]
Infertility is defined as the inability of a couple to achieve a pregnancy after a considerable amount of time. The amount of time is usually one year for females under the age of 35 or six months for a female over the age of 35 with regular unprotected sexual relations. Infertility also includes a woman […]
Harmony and Ian VanGundy were anxiously awaiting the birth of their third child in September 2017. Like their other two children, Allistair, age 3, and Gannon, 15, they were going to deliver at WakeMed, but this time they were going closer to home to the new WakeMed North Hospital in North Raleigh. Harmony was nine […]
My name is Shanda Smallwood, and I am a proud mother of a former 24-weeker. It gives me great joy to share a little of our story. On November 7, 2014, I called my doctor and informed her that something wasn’t feeling right, as every 10 to 15 minutes, I was getting a throbbing feeling […]
Premature birth is the leading cause of death in children under the age of five worldwide. [source] World Prematurity Day aims to raise awareness of the challenges and burdens of preterm birth globally and improve the situation of preterm babies and their families. History of World Prematurity Day World Prematurity Day always falls on November […]
WakeMed NICU babies are in for a special Halloween surprise, thanks to the skills of a few parents and the fundraising efforts led entirely by former WakeMed NICU mom, Amanda Walker. Below, Amanda shares her NICU story and how these loving donations are making a big impact in the lives of our tiniest patients and their […]
Like most people, I didn’t even know that you could donate milk before I had a baby. One day, while scrolling through Instagram, I saw a post by a nurse who was donating her extra milk to the hospital where she worked. That sounded like an amazing idea to me and since my own freezer was […]
