All Children's nurses provide much-needed comfort in NICU

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (FOX 13) - The simplest of tasks can be monumental for the littlest of lives, and that's why the nurses of Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital give babies in the NICU the utmost care. 

The moments occur at times when you might not think they need it the most. Emily Hargrove, a registered nurse, works on the 6th floor of the hospital.

"I describe the NICU as the dentist office," she explained. "No one wants to come here and everyone is happy to leave, but we make it a pleasurable experience while they are here." 

It's specialization that Hargrove has fallen head over heels with when she started nine years ago, even if it requires more "TLC"  for the littlest of little ones.

"A lot of people didnt consider premees a lot different from newborns," she explained. "Now we see that they are differnet. Brains are different, nervous systems are different from their term counterparts. we know we need to do things a bit differently. Premees tend to be overstimulated more so than a newborn. They need specialized handling and care."

It's especially necessary when it comes to those simple but important daily tasks like bath time. Swaddle bathing is the technique used and it's exactly how it sounds, wrapping up those little hands and feet into their body and exposing only what you need to wash.

"Before when they weren't contained. they were flailing around," Hargrove recalled. "They'd be crying, they'd get cold. That's not only upsetting for them but upsetting for the parents. Now that we can swaddle bath them. We can keep them contained. They're much calmer, much more relaxed, they don't cry quite as often and they seem to do better all around."