Having a baby come into the world too small, too sick or too early can be very scary for families.
“It’s absolutely terrifying,” said Lauren Cronin. “The doctors tell you what can go wrong and on the internet, you’re reading what can happen.”
Lauren and her husband Mackey dreamed of raising a family together. Their feelings of excitement turned into concern when two of their children ended up in the NICU at GBMC.
“We knew the statistics,” said Mackey Cronin. “But we also had more hope than what the statistics showed.”
The Cronin’s say it was the NICU team at GBMC that helped every step of the way by providing the support and resources they needed to get through difficult times.
GBMC is hoping to help comfort even more families with their new neonatal intensive care unit.
“We’re very excited. It’s been a long time coming,” said NICU Registered Nurse, Katie Stieber. “It’s going to totally help with family centered care and just be a lot more private for our families.”
WMAR 2 News was invited to a sneak peek of the newly renovated NICU before it officially opens late June. The new NICU will house 13 rooms, 10 of which be private rooms for families.
“It’s going to be much more family centered,” said Judy Esser, the Delivery Room Assessment Nurse. “Moms will be able to spend the night with their babies in their rooms which is really exciting.”
The new unit will be equipped with breast milk drawers, gentler lighting, as well as newly designed Kangaroo chairs that promote skin-to-skin contact. GBMC’s new NICU is hoping to provide even more comfort to families in need.
"They were just looking out for us and they didn’t need to do all of that,” said Lauren Cronin. “ They became huge support for us and I don’t know what we would have done without them.”
The Cronin Family as well as many others plan on taking part in the 30th annual Father’s Day 5K to help support the NICU at GBMC. The race is set for Sunday, June 17th at the GBMC Campus.
The new NICU will open its door late June.
