Tauranga Hospital’s
very own
Christmas story
By Beth French, Registered Nurse, Special Care
Baby Unit, Tauranga Hospital.
My colleague Yvonne and I have worked in
Tauranga Hospital Special Care Baby Unit
(SCBU) for many years, the last few years
working night shift together.
One night we were chatting to the Paediatric House Surgeon
as he was doing his rounds. Jordan Vincent had been on the
Paediatric run for a few months so we were getting to know him
quite well.
That night he told us that he had been born at 34 weeks and was
in Tauranga Hospital SCBU over Christmas time.
Much to his embarrassment Yvonne said that she probably
changed his nappies as she would have been working in SCBU at
that time. I realised that I too would have looked after him.
The next night he bought in a photo of himself in a cot in SCBU.
There in the cot was a Christmas stocking that Yvonne knows she
made, as it was made out of the red incontinent pads we had in
those days.
Jordan says he has found it very interesting to learn more about
what life would have been like for his family having a baby born
at 34 weeks, and he is now aware of the care he would have
received in SCBU.
Something that has amused him is that his Mother often told him
what a small baby he was. He now realises that at just over 2.3kg
he was a good size for a SCBU baby.
It is great to know that a little baby we had both looked after many
years ago is now a father of three children and well on his way to
becoming a specialist.
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