It was the day after Christmas, December 26, 2022, when six-months pregnant Maria Patterson began to feel strong labor contractions. She had traveled from Texas to North Carolina with her husband, McKinley Patterson, IV, and their seven-year-old son to celebrate the holidays with family. She’d experienced Braxton Hicks contractions just days prior, so Maria figured […]
The first intensive care nursery at WakeMed opened in July 1973, two years before the American Board of Pediatrics created the first subspecialty board exam for Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine. The two-room unit, which had space for just 14 isolettes, was made possible by funds from hospital volunteers alongside a negative pressure respirator donated by the March […]
Giving is good for the soul. In fact, there is scientific evidence that altruistic people receive pleasure from being generous. This is certainly the case with Sarah Dugger, PhD, a wife, mother of two and clinical genomic scientist. Her life’s work is dedicated to giving help and hope to people with medical conditions to improve […]
When it comes to caring for the tiniest patients at WakeMed, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team is constantly thinking of innovative ways to enhance the overall experience for parents and infants. That’s why WakeMed recently added a NicView™ streaming camera system at the Level IV NICU in Raleigh and the Level III Special […]
On October 26, 2019, Heather Dannelley and her husband, Scott, were running some pre-Halloween errands when their day took a turn for the worse. What should have been a day filled with sweet treats and costume crafting was suddenly cut short by a serious car accident – another car flew through a stop sign and […]
When your baby is born, you expect your experience to go just like all the parenting books have taught you. You’ll have an easy delivery, followed by a few days resting with your beautiful baby in a comfortable maternity room. It doesn’t always go that way, however. And that’s where the neonatal intensive care unit […]
For the past six years, WakeMed’s NICU has participated in the Kangaroo Challenge from Sunnybrook Hospital in Canada. This is an international challenge to see which hospital can log the most hours participating in kangaroo care. Each year for 15 days, we ‘challenge’ our parents with a Kangaroo-A-Thon to kangaroo their babies as usual—but this […]
Download a printable version of this blog post. For the past five years, WakeMed’s NICU has participated in the Kangaroo Challenge from Sunnybrook Hospital in Canada. This is an international challenge to see which hospital can log the most hours participating in kangaroo care. Each year for 15 days, we ‘challenge’ our parents with a […]
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 […]
*This article was written in collaboration with LaToshia Rouse with contributions from Jim Helm. The WakeMed NICU Advisory & Parent Support group (NAPS) has joined forces with the Development Team (Jim Helm, Laurie Slaughter, and Jennifer Powell) in the WakeMed NICU for “Extra Hand Hugs Week”. About Extra Hand Hugs “Hand Hugging” or “hand hugs” are […]
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