NICU Nurses Sing ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ to Preemie, and the Internet’s in Tears
For many parents, getting to celebrate their babies’ first-ever Christmas is a pretty exciting milestone full of family, friends, and lots of festive photo ops. But for __parents who have recently given birth to a premature baby, it’s likely that this year’s holiday was actually spent in a hospital NICU. That’s not exactly somewhere most families anticipate spending Christmas (or any other day of the year, really), but with a little help from two talented nurses, the staff at a hospital in Toronto, Canada recently gave one very tiny patient an incredibly heartwarming Christmas present her __parents will never forget: a holiday serenade.
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On Dec. 21, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre posted a video to YouTube showing NICU nurses Marieneth Montenegro and Lisa Sampson singing a beautiful version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” while cradling a preemie named Anya, who was born on Dec. 11. Like many babies born too early, Anya lies in an incubator, hooked up to breathing and feeding tubes, with her vital signs closely monitored at all times.
While it can be hard to see such a tiny baby attached to countless machines and monitors, the loving care and attention of the nurses — coupled with their heartfelt Christmas carol — is a definite tear-jerker. And for those of us who have been there ourselves, it’s a reminder of the eternal gratitude many NICU parents carry with them for the medical professionals who have cared for their children during what was likely one of the scariest times of their lives.
In December 2012, my own children were born at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, when I was only 25 weeks pregnant. We, too, spent our first Christmas in the NICU, feeling overwhelmed and terrified; and while nothing could have truly made that experience easy, knowing that our tiny babies were in such good hands at least made it easier. This year, we celebrated Christmas with our now healthy and active 4-year-olds — something which wouldn’t have happened had it not been for the doctors and nurses at Sunnybrook who cared for them.
Image Source: Sunnybrook Hospital
And that’s a reality that Sunnybrook’s NICU parent coordinator, Kate Robson, understands well. Robson tells Babble that she came up with the idea for the video “as a little gift for our NICU community of families and staff members,” during a time of year that can feel extra challenging and isolating. But when the video hit social media, it quickly went viral, with thousands of users on Twitter and Facebook sharing the sweet clip. Robson said that the Sunnybrook NICU staff was “happily surprised” to see that the video has resonated with so many people, and that she has received “hundreds of overwhelmingly positive messages from people” since it was first uploaded.
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Robson tells Babble:
“I think people love it because they see kindness and caring in action, and they see how the baby responds to the beautiful singing. I also think many people responding to this video have never even seen a preemie before, so although it wasn’t really intended to be educational, we have managed to teach people something anyway.”
That unexpected educational opportunity is an important one for many in the NICU community, who know that caring for premature babies is about much more than simply giving them extra time to grow. Premature babies are at risk of a variety of complications after birth, including breathing problems, heart problems, brain hemorrhages, gastrointestinal problems, and infection, according to the Mayo Clinic. And even after leaving the NICU, preemies are at a higher risk for long-term complications, like cerebral palsy, developmental delays, learning disabilities, vision, and hearing problems.
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Although baby Anya certainly seems to be enjoying the nurses’ singing in the video, Robson notes that the care provided by the NICU staff is meant to reduce the risk of complications as much as possible, and one of the most important aspects of that is following each baby’s cues.
“Premature babies are exposed to so many artificial noises in the NICU,” Robson explains, “so hearing human voices can act as an important counter-balance and help reduce their stress. But very premature babies don’t like a lot of stimulation, and some may not respond well to singing — they might prefer humming or just quiet talking along with hand hugging or kangaroo care [being held skin-to-skin].”
Image Source: Sunnybrook Hospital/YouTube
Luckily for Sampson and Montenegro, Anya seemed to be a big fan of their soothing voices, and in a statement to the CBC, Anya’s parents wrote that their little girl “is doing very well” — so well, in fact, that they are looking forward to bringing her home in the new year.
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