United Front — Saunders family finds comfort in the NICU

Abby Saunders felt snakebit.

In mid-July 2005 she found herself at The Nebraska Medical Center about to give birth to a premature baby for the second time in 13 months.

“All I could think was, ‘I can’t believe we’re here again,'” Saunders said.

Last day Tomorrow is the last day of the UNMC United Way campaign.

Saunders would soon deliver a 2 pound, 2 ounce boy named Griffin. He was born 27 weeks into Saunders’ pregnancy and weighed a pound more than his sister Ava weighed when she was born on June 24, 2004.

Giving birth to a premature child is a traumatic experience that leaves a mother with a true sense of having no control, Saunders said. Giving birth to two premature children was almost too much to bear.

But in the case of both her children, Saunders found solace and support in the staff at the medical center’s newborn intensive care unit (NICU).

The staff’s care for Saunders’ children, including watching over Ava as she spent eight weeks on a ventilator, and their emotional support for Abby and her husband Ryan proved invaluable.

“They were great,” Saunders said. “We spent so much time up there that the staff became like a second family to us.”

Today, Ava, 3, and Griffin, 2, are for the most part vigorous, healthy children. Ava requires some therapy to refine her speech and fine motor skills, but considering how bleak it looked at the beginning, the Saunders are happy with their family situation.

“We didn’t think she was going to make it,” Saunders said, noting that doctors said Ava had a 30 percent chance at survival. “That was a difficult thought to deal with.”

Abby Saunders cradles her first-born child, Ava, in this 2004 photo taken in The Nebraska Medical Center Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Today Ava, who doctors said had a 30 percent chance of survival, is a vibrant 3 year old and Abby is a March of Dimes NICU Family Support Specialist.

Abby Saunders’ NICU story, however, didn’t end when her children stopped receiving care in the unit.

While sitting in the NICU while Griffin was being treated, Saunders learned the unit was looking for clerical associate to work nights.

Attracted by being able to stay home during the day with her children, Saunders applied and eventually got the job.

During her two years of working at the NICU, she often found herself talking with other parents of premature babies — who found her experience with their situation comforting.

“It helps to be able to talk to someone who really understands what you’re going through,” Saunders said.

Saunders recently left the medical center to start her new job as a March of Dimes NICU Family Support Specialist. The March of Dimes and its NICU support efforts are strengthened by United Way funds.

As part of her duties, she will work with families of premature babies in the NICU units at The Nebraska Medical Center and Bergan Mercy Hospital.

The job fits her perfectly and helps her see how her experience with her own children can benefit countless others. It also is a way for her to return the kindness she received from the medical center’s NICU staff when she was a scared parent of a premature baby.

“I really can’t believe how perfectly this has worked out,” Saunders said. “This new job is a privilege for me.”