At Washington Health’s Special Care Nursery, Saisha’s parents found a lifeline for their daughter – and a second family.
Within a minute of being placed on her mother’s chest, newborn Saisha was whisked away.
She was struggling to breathe.
First-time mom Saloni Shah barely had time to take in her new daughter before the medical team began working to help her. Saisha had swallowed meconium and was having trouble maintaining her oxygen levels. She was taken to Washington Health’s Level II Special Care Nursery for additional care.
The unexpected complications meant the first moments of motherhood looked nothing like Shah had imagined.
“I had done all the research. I attended all the Washington Hospital classes,” Shah said.
She knew about the “golden hour” – that precious period immediately after birth when a newborn is placed skin-to-skin with her mother. Instead, Shah told her husband, Sidharth, to stay with Saisha while her own mother remained beside her.
“It was really, really stressful,” she shared. “It was scary.”
Saisha initially improved enough to leave the nursery several hours later. But during a feeding with a lactation consultant, another concern emerged. Saisha was extremely tired and struggling to eat.
She returned to the Special Care Nursery, where she developed jaundice and dehydration, and continued having difficulty taking enough milk. What followed were days of trying different bottles, nipples and breastfeeding techniques. Sometimes something would work for a few hours and then suddenly stop.
The nurses kept trying alongside them.
“We participated in about 90% of the feeds,” Sidharth recalled. “The nurses were immensely helpful and let us be involved in the process.”
For Shah, Saisha’s stay also brought her back to a place that had been part of her life, long before she became a mother.
Shah grew up in Fremont, where her mother worked as a nurse for an organization with close ties to Washington Health. As a teenager considering medicine, Shah even spent a summer shadowing an emergency physician at the hospital. Although Shah and Sidharth now live in San Jose, Washington Health remained a familiar place for her family.
“It felt natural,” Shah said. “It kind of felt like home.” Over the days that followed, “home” began to take on a different meaning.
The nurses weren’t only caring for Saisha, they were teaching two first-time parents how to feed her, change her and recognize her cues. And as Shah recovered from childbirth, they looked after her, too – checking whether she had eaten, bringing her water and asking how she was doing. Soon, Saloni and Sidharth had a new name for the nurses: “auntie.”
“They all truly became family,” Shah said.
That family-centered approach is central to Washington Health’s Special Care Nursery, according to Harroop Kaur, the unit’s manager and educator.
Kaur helps ensure staff stay current on clinical guidelines and emergency skills, but said education also extends to families. For parents who may suddenly find themselves caring for a baby with needs they hadn’t anticipated, that preparation can be especially important. Nurses work alongside families throughout their stay, helping them become comfortable with their baby’s care and more confident about what comes next.
Over the past decade, more than 5,000 babies have received care in Washington Health’s Special Care Nursery, according to Kaur. Washington Health’s affiliation with UCSF Health provides additional resources and access to specialized care, while babies requiring a higher level of care can be assessed and transferred when necessary.
“We’re here to serve them,” Kaur explained. “We’re here to take care of them if they need that additional support.”
By the time Saisha was ready to leave, her parents felt ready, too. “They really helped set a strong foundation for us,” Shah said. “Once we came home, we felt like we knew what to do.”
Today, Saisha is thriving. She’s meeting milestones, is highly expressive – and after the feeding challenges of those early days, she loves to eat.
On a recent Saturday, the family returned to Washington Health for the Special Care Nursery reunion, where Saisha could see some of the nurses and doctors who cared for her during those uncertain first days, and helped her grow strong enough to go home.
For Kaur, seeing families like Saisha’s return is a reminder of what the work is ultimately about.
“We want every single parent to have their miracle,” she said.
To learn more about maternity services and the Special Care Nursery at Washington Health, visit washingtonhealth.com/services/womens-health/maternity/.