1980 NICU Graduate Thrives

I spent the first six weeks of my life at Saint Luke’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I was born 10 weeks early and weighed 3 pounds. My dad could hold me in the palm of his hand.

I stopped breathing a lot. The doctors told my mom that if I’d been born a year earlier, I wouldn’t have survived. Technology and knowledge of preemies develops every year. Now babies born weighing less than two pounds are not only able to survive, but thrive with the kind of intensive care I received.

Many people think premature babies will be stunted or disabled. Well, I’m 6 feet tall. I played on the basketball, volleyball, track, and softball teams in high school. I’ve gotten married, explored the world with my husband (who was a preemie as well), and had two children of my own.

My mom co-founded reunions for the Saint Luke’s NICU “graduates” to support each other and keep in touch with the nurses and staff who loved us as if we were their own babies. The reunions started in a small meeting room. Now we’re a cast of thousands who take up an entire hotel ballroom.

As one of the oldest alumni, I’m living proof to nervous new mothers that having a problem pregnancy or a premature delivery can be the start of something wonderful. My advice to them is to give all your love and hope to your child…. and definitely have your baby at Saint Luke’s.

—Nicole Vette, Saint Luke’s Class of 1980

About 500 babies every year come into the world at Saint Luke’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. As a Level IIIb NICU—the state's highest designation for care—we offer the full continuum of care from preconception to childhood and beyond. Our neonatologists, neonatal nurses, pediatric anesthesiologists, lactation counselors, and dedicated neonatal pharmacists on hand 24/7 give the most fragile newborns the most remarkable gift…the chance for a normal, healthy life. And we host annual reunions to give our NICU alumni the chance to share the stories of their lives.