UPPER MACUNGIE TWP, Pa. — The cuteness meter was off the charts Sunday at Lone Lane Park in Upper Macungie Township.
After a two-year hiatus, Lehigh Valley Health Network brought back its neonatal intensive care unit reunion.
- Lehigh Valley Health Network resumed its annual neonatal intensive care unit reunion on Sunday after two years of delay by the coronavirus pandemic.
- More than 70 children ages 10 months to 2.5 years who spent time in the NICU attended to reunite with doctors and other personnel who cared for them early in their lives.
- Dr. Wendy Kowalski, medical director of the NICU, called it a joyous reunion not just for the families, but the health care workers, as well.
This year marks the 10th year that doctors, nurses and other staff working in the NICU came together to celebrate their most recent graduates from the unit.
“Being in the NICU, it's really hard to understand anything until you've been in it,” said Dr. Wendy Kowalski, medical director of the NICU at Lehigh Valley Riley Children's Hospital and the organizer of the reunion.
“I think for families, it's important for them to be able to connect with people that kind of understand the journey they went through as a family, you know, as parents, as a couple and then also for their child," Kowalski said.
The party's guests of honor ranged in age from 10 months to 2.5 years old. This year, a larger group was invited after the coronavirus pandemic canceled the 2020 and 2021 events.
This year, 70 to 80 graduates and their families participated.
Angie Ortiz of Allentown brought her 1.5-year-old, Gianna, to celebrate all the milestones her daughter has reached since leaving the NICU.
Gianna was born at 28 weeks and weighed only 2 pounds at birth.
“She lost weight during that time," Ortiz said. "I wasn't able to see her for a whole week because of my situation and finally, when I got to see her, she had a collapsed lung."
"They had to put a tube through there. It was very difficult and very intense.”
However, that tiny girl made has made big strides in her short life.
“When she was in the NICU, they made it clear that she might have hearing issues, seeing, speech, any type of delays is to be expected because she came so early,” Ortiz explained.
“But we took advantage of everything they told us, like therapy, all that stuff. Now she's talking, she's saying words, she's walking, she hears fine and her eyes develop perfectly.”
Ortiz said she enjoyed reconnecting with the people she spent so much time with in the NICU during COVID-19.
"It feels full circle," she said. "It's nice to see the nurses that helped us again and you know them to see her.”
Kaitlin Litsch of Slatington also brought her daughter, Frances. The little girl was born in November 2021 and spent a few days in the NICU.
Litsch said it’s not a place she thought her newborn would spend her first hours of life.
“The thought of her going [to] the NICU never dawned on me," she said. "I really was hoping to have my baby in the room with me. That was hard and then going home without her was … I cried myself to sleep the first night. It was rough.”
“I think for families, it's important for them to be able to connect with people that kind of understand the journey they went through."Wendy Kowalski, medical director of the NICU at Lehigh Valley Riley Children's Hospital
With music, food, games and a little bounce house, the event helped families such as those of Gianna and Frances to celebrate the obstacles they've overcome together.
Kowalski, the medical director, said it’s not just a joyous reunion for the families, but the health care workers, as well.
"This is a happy day for us," she said. "I mean, we look forward to it every year. It's a volunteer event, so we have all the docs ... and we have therapists and nurses and our nutritionist, everyone sort of jumping in.”
