The nursery may be perfectly prepped; the prenatal classes passed with flying colors; the bags already packed. But all the planning in the world seldom prepares parents for the shock of having their newborn whisked away to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It's nothing you want to plan for because it's something you don't ever want to experience. But a little bit of awareness can stem a whole lot of fear and panic.

What can parents expect when their child is admitted into the NICU?

"To be overwhelmed," says Katie Smith, a registered nurse and unit director of the NICU at Magee-Women's Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "A large percentage of infants in a NICU are born at full-term, so those parents are blindsided when their infant is admitted into the NICU. And even a mother who knows she may deliver prematurely can't really adequately prepare herself for the experience."

"Despite parental counseling regarding an impending high-risk infant, it's never the same as having your own baby in the NICU," says Dr. Sherin Devaskar, executive vice chair of pediatrics at the Mattel Children's Hospital, UCLA. "Guided tours before the birth of a high-risk infant may help but never alleviate the experience when a baby actually enters the NICU."

Content on this site is not a substitute for professional medical or healthcare advice, diagnosis or treatment, and may not be used for such purposes. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical question or condition. Reliance on information presented on this site is at your own risk. This site contains the opinions and views of other users. Given the interactive nature of this site, we cannot endorse, guarantee, or be responsible for the accuracy, efficacy, or veracity of any content generated by our users.