| If your baby arrives early or has unexpected problems at the time of
delivery, a specially trained physician called a neonatologist may provide care for your
baby. A neonatologist is a physician who has specialized in pediatrics and then has
futher medical training in neonatal (newborn) care. Juan M. Bossano, MD,
a physician with the Children's Clinic, who is board certified in
pediatrics and neonatology, provides neonatal intensive care for at risk and high-risk
newborns requiring highly skilled intensive medical care.
Dr. Bossano attends high-risk deliveries and cesarean sections as well as 24-hour
emergency transport services from hospitals in the surrounding area. He participates
in developmental follow-up at Kids Team, a division of Women
& Children's Hospital, for graduates of NICU who are at risk for development
delay. Dr. Bossano, Medical Director of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Women
& Children's Hospital, is available at all area hospitals
and is close at hand to care for newborns with unexpected problems.
The NICU is a special care area where highly trained nurses and other specialists give
around the clock care to babies who are too sick to take home. This kind of care is
too involved to provide in a standard newborn nursery. Not all hospitals have NICUs. Some babies are transferred from the
facility in which they were born to the NICU of another hospital. In this area, two
hospitals provide that care, Lake Charles Memorial Hospital and Women & Children's
Hospital. Dr. Bossano takes care of babies in both places.
Most of the time, infants go to the NICU simply because they were born too soon.
About half of the time, no one knows why the baby was born early. Usually, it is not a
result of something the mother did or did not do. Possible reasons for being born
too early include complications during pregnancy, problems with the womb, high blood
pressure, poor diet, or infection. Sometimes the cord that connects the baby and the
mother pulls away from the wall of the womb. Twins and other multiple births often
arrive early. Sometimes infants need to stay in the NICU because of something that
occurred during birth or because an organ doesn't function the way it should.
Although a stay in the NICU is not what anyone wishes for their baby, Dr. Bossano and
the NICU are there to help if you need it. |
