Hudson White was 124 days old when he graduated.
The baby, accessorized in a green plaid bow tie and denim suspenders instead of a cap and gown, was not graduating from an academic program but from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Community Hospital in Munster.
Generations of fellow NICU graduates will reunite next month at a party hosted by Powers Health.
Hudson’s story began well before his graduation day.
His mother, Taylor White, is a nurse and clinical team lead in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart. Aside from morning sickness, her pregnancy had been progressing well.
“Everything was going perfect, until it wasn’t,” she said.
At her 20-week scan, her growing baby looked healthy.
“They couldn’t get all the pictures they needed because of how he was positioned, so they had me go back three weeks later,” White recalled.
When she returned, her cervix did not look quite right, and she began bleeding. A Powers Health obstetrician/gynecologist assessed White and her baby and knew they needed the high-level care provided at Community Hospital’s NICU.
“I was at 23 weeks, 5 days gestation the day I was admitted to Community Hospital,” White said.
Gestation typically is 40 weeks.
Because of her condition, an exact dilation measurement was not possible, but her care team estimated she was dilated 5 or 6 centimeters.
“I was completely effaced,” she said.
Those signs indicated White was close to delivering the baby. She was put on bedrest and positioned in a tipped angle to delay labor as long as possible.
“We hoped it would be months, but I made it only a week before I went into full-blown labor,” she said.
A neonatologist conferred with the couple and asked if they would want their baby intubated after birth to increase his chance of survival.
“We said ‘yes’ because we wanted to give him a shot,” White said.
She delivered Hudson at 24 weeks and 5 days gestation. He weighed 1.7 pounds.
Hudson was intubated and moved to the NICU, where he stayed for four months. He made progress and faced setbacks, including a partially collapsed lung.
“They say it’s a roller coaster,” his mother said. “The beginning was, for sure.”
To stay in a positive frame of mind, White avoided researching survival rates for her micropreemie and the meaning behind every test result. Having a medical background, she understood a lot of it anyway.
“Sometimes you know too much, like which numbers are good or bad,” she said.
She also knew Hudson was right where he needed to be.
“I’m glad that’s where we ended up,” she said. “Community has the best NICU in our area.”
Community Hospital is home to a Level III NICU, with Northwest Indiana’s most experienced team of neonatal specialists, physician assistants and nurse practitioners who are available around the clock.
Powers Health also sponsors a neonatal transport team that allows the healthcare system to care for premature and critically ill babies from local hospitals at Community Hospital’s NICU or transport them to a children’s hospital for further care or surgery.
“All of the NICU nurses, therapists and providers were great,” White said. “I can’t imagine us being anywhere else. You trust everyone and you get to know everyone.”
Tracy Sharp, nurse manager of Neonatology and Pediatrics at Community Hospital, said the NICU team has specialized training to care for the tiniest patients.
“We know this is an anxious time for parents, and we want to assure them that we have an exceptional medical team and advanced equipment to give their babies the best chance at a healthy future,” Sharp said.
Just a couple of months after graduating from the NICU, Hudson could roll over from his belly onto his back.
Community Hospital, St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago and St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart routinely earn accolades from the Indiana Hospital Association (IHA) for their commitment to infant and maternal health.
Recognition is based on implementation of best practices in six key areas, including safe sleep, breastfeeding, perinatal substance use, social drivers of health, obstetric hemorrhage and maternal hypertension. Family Birthing Services at the three Powers Health acute care hospitals received the Hospital of Distinction Award, meaning they met four or five of those criteria.
For more information about Maternal and Neonatal Care at Powers Health, visit PowersHealth.org/baby.
