At CaroMont Regional Medical Center in North Carolina, some very special mini-ceremonies are taking place - honoring and celebrating the lives of premature babies. Once the newborns are about to leave the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), they get a personalized graduation cap and a portrait.
"It's just for babies born at 34 weeks of gestation or earlier... when they leave it's a huge accomplishment not only for the baby but parents as well," Melissa Jordan, a nurse at CaroMont Regional Medical Center told Buzzfeed. "The program was started as a way to celebrate this milestone in the babies' lives."
Jordan was inspired to do this after spending time with a vulnerable baby who was born just at 29 weeks. "The day he got discharged, we gathered staff and we went in singing and dancing and gave him his cap — and his parents just smiled ear to ear — that's when we knew it was something we wanted to keep doing for other families," Jordan said.
"Leaving the NICU can be joyful but also scary and nerve-wracking, so this was our way of bringing a little normalcy to taking the baby home," Jordan said.
At CaroMont Regional Medical Center in North Carolina, some very special mini-ceremonies are taking place...
Image credits: Bella Baby Photography
The graduations that honor and celebrate the lives of premature babies
Image credits: Bella Baby Photography
Once the newborns are about to leave the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)...
Image credits: CaroMont Health
They get a personalized graduation cap and a portrait
Image credits: Bella Baby Photography
"The program was started as a way to celebrate this milestone in the babies' lives"
Image credits: Bella Baby Photography
A nurse got inspired to do this after spending time with a vulnerable baby who was born just at 29 weeks
Image credits: Bella Baby Photography
"The day he got discharged, we gathered staff and we went in singing and dancing and gave him his cap..."
Image credits: CaroMont Health
"And his parents just smiled ear to ear — that's when we knew it was something we wanted to keep doing"
Image credits: Bella Baby Photography
"Leaving the NICU can be joyful but also scary and nerve-wracking..."
Image credits: Bella Baby Photography
"So this was our way of bringing a little normalcy to taking the baby home"
Image credits: Bella Baby Photography