Kita remembers the tunnel that connected Bayfront Medical Center where babies were delivered with the old All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. She remembers worrying about her first-born, Jordan. She remembers sleeping in the waiting room of the old neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at All Children’s while using the sort of neck pillow you might have on an airplane. 

It was 17 years ago. Kita’s family and the NICU have come a long way since then. 

Kita — a nickname of the more formal Markita — now has five children, four of whom have spent time in the All Children’s NICU, which has changed considerably since that first experience when Jordan was born and since All Children’s joined the Johns Hopkins Health System. 

“In those days, there was a window where you could see all the babies,” Kita says. “The moms would be on one end, and the NICU on the other end. You could visit your baby, but there was no private area.” 

Early Deliveries 

Kita is prone to preeclampsia, a potentially serious pregnancy complication marked by high blood pressure before or after birth. It occurs in about 5% to 8% of pregnancies, and complications can include premature delivery. Mothers who experience preeclampsia in one pregnancy are at increased risk for developing the condition in future pregnancies and that has been Kita’s experience. She has had preeclampsia and premature delivery with each of her pregnancies. 

Because prematurity often leads to complications for the baby, they often receive care in the NICU. Jordan was 6 pounds, 3 ounces when he was born at Bayfront about 1½ months early and sent through the tunnel to the All Children’s NICU. Kita didn’t see him for seven days while her preeclampsia was treated. 

Kita’s second child, 15-year-old Tylir, was born prematurely, but he is the only one who didn’t need NICU care. Still, Kita remembers when he was taken to the tunnel for transport to the old All Children’s. 

Her next three children — 13-year-old Raquel, 4-year-old Michaela and infant Xena — all experienced the NICU in new ways. 

The New Hospital 

The current Johns Hopkins All Children’s opened in 2010 with a 97-bed NICU. Its Level IV designation indicates it provides the highest-level care available. The NICU routinely draws the most challenging infants throughout the region and sometimes cares for international patients. 

Kita remembers when Raquel was born and how different the experience was from the old hospital. The NICU now provides more privacy and dedicated area for families to be with their child. Kita’s mother had come down from Raleigh, North Carolina, and was able to be with Kita and Raquel. 

“It’s more personal,” Kita says. “When you’re concerned about your child, you don’t want people all around. We could be right with her during her care. It’s totally different.” 

Kita also appreciated that the added privacy facilitated breastfeeding her baby. She also practiced kangaroo care, which involves the parent holding the infant with skin-to-skin contact, usually on the chest. The practice creates a bond and helps the baby regulate breathing, heart rate and temperature among other benefits. Kita has followed the practice with her subsequent children as well. 

Michaela was born in 2020, so the family NICU experience that time was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic with masking and distancing. Doctors were concerned about Michaela’s rapid breathing, which took two to three weeks to regulate, Kita recalls. 

Xena was born this year at just past 34 weeks gestation and at 3 pounds, 15 ounces. She was Kita’s smallest baby yet. 

“Xena initially required the incubator due to her prematurity and was able to wean to an open crib as she matured and gained weight,” says Candice Guevara, D.O., M.S., a neonatal hospital medicine specialist who cared for Xena. “She was exposed to magnesium due to her mother’s preeclampsia and had to spend her first few days on IV fluids until we could start feeds after she started stooling and her magnesium level came down to normal.” 

Despite being so small, Xena made remarkable progress on her developmental milestones and was discharged after 10 days. 

“She was an excellent breast feeder and also did well feeding from the bottle,” says Guevara, who worked closely with nurse practitioner Mary Ann Gouveia on Xena’s care. “I attribute her success to the early and frequent skin to skin care that both of her parents provided. They were attentive to her needs and very involved with her care. They are the reason she had a relatively quick NICU stay.” 

Xena’s prognosis is very good, though like her mother and siblings Tylir and Raquel, she has sickle cell disease. The family’s relationship with the Johns Hopkins All Children’s sickle cell team dates to Tylir’s infancy. 

‘A World of Difference’ 

Xena’s care in the NICU reinforced Kita’s experience through the years with each of her babies. She tells a story of nurse Cibele Urbanski who noticed Kita’s love of strawberries and took a footprint of Xena and made an artful strawberry with the caption: “I love you berry much.” 

“We literally moved in,” Kita says. “We felt very supported, and it was great to have her dad at the bedside.

“The staff and nurses are amazing. It’s clear they’re not just there to do a job. They’re doing something they love. The love helped her get better so fast. It makes a world of difference for healing.”