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conferenceseries
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Volume 6, Issue 3 (Suppl)
J Neonatal Biol, an open access journal
ISSN:2167-0897
Neonatology 2017
December 04-06, 2017
December 04-06, 2017 | Madrid, Spain
20
th
International Conference on
NEONATOLOGY AND PERINATOLOGY
From preemie to young adult: A retrospective look at parenting over a twenty-six year period
Laura Miller
March of Dimes Foundation, USA
H
ave you ever thought to yourself, “I wonder what happened to that family, once they left the neonatal intensive care unit?
How did the family cope, or how did the infant progress, once they got home?” Every year, thousands of infants and their
parents and families spend days, weeks or months in a hospital unit, but once they transition to home, we often lose track of
them. Through pictures and stories, Laura will share her personal journey, a long-range view of her life, and of her 27-week
twin sons, after their NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ) experience. You’ll hear how a six-month NICU stay impacted
every aspect of their lives. Laura will talk candidly about post-traumatic stress, disabilities, infant loss, mental health, adaptive
technology, navigating through the public school system, and genereal coping and adapting through a traumatic period in
time. Strategies to support NICU families during and after the NICU stay will be discussed. In addition to her personal story,
Laura will share quotes and comments from dozens of parent interviews, illustrating common themes and experiences shared
by many NICU parents, including a discussion on how the minor co-morbidities impact the child in their early and late
adolescence. From a parent’s perspective, the NICU experience is a powerful one, which many times changes the course of one’s
life and career. This session reveals the real-life struggles of NICU families rarely talked about.
lkmiller@marchofdimes.orgJ Neonatal Biol 2017, 6:3(Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2167-0897-C1-006