"Enter as strangers, leave as family." Dhara Naik, D.O., saw this sign the first time she was brought into the Edward Hospital Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to visit her daughter, Neeti, with her husband Manan Naik, D.O.

An emergency C-section brought Neeti into this world at 26.4 weeks because Dhara had severe preeclampsia. Neeti spent 117 days in the NICU and exposed her physician parents to a new realm of medicine. Dhara practices internal medicine with the Elmhurst Medical Associates and Manan is a cardiologist.

"I didn’t understand the sign and even thought it to be funny at first," Dhara remembers. "But that message summarizes our experience in the NICU. We truly have gained a family, and we were supported not only medically but also personally by our NICU family.

“What is amazing is that support did not stop when we left. From the nurses checking in to say hi to the physicians that were at her delivery coming down and spending time with Neeti when we came to drop off books for the NICU on her first birthday. That continued care and compassion is truly something special,” she says.

Knowing too much

As physicians, Dhara and Manan had the advantage of understanding the medical process and the disadvantage of knowing too much, in terms of medical risks and fighting against the odds. Dhara says Rajeev Dixit, M.D., a neonatologist in the NICU, offered wise advice on day one: Do not look things up. He said, "I know you know a lot, but the NICU is a different world. I promise that we will always be honest and tell you what is going on."

Dhara and Manan followed Dixit's words of wisdom and believe they were calmer because of it. She adds, "I would tell all parents — don’t Google; it will make you think the worst of things. Your baby is being given the best chance and treatments possible, but it’s up to your baby's body to do the rest. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t."

Neeti's body faced some struggles, like the bloodstream infection that developed one week after she was born. Dhara says the memory of the positive blood culture result, along with the peripheral IV that was placed for antibiotics and took up her entire forearm and the lumbar puncture that was done to check for meningitis, still brings tears to her eyes.

"My husband and I have seen all of this with adults, but to see a child who weighs about 500 grams (1.1 pounds) and is 12 inches long go through all this is different. Dr. Bob Covert [medical director of the NICU] told us that time would tell if Neeti was responding to antibiotics. Again, we knew this. Infections respond in 48-72 hours, but that was a long 48 hours. We didn’t sleep much; we called at night to check on her. We stayed in the NICU pretty late into the evenings as well."

Manan, who returned to work after Neeti was born, found solace in his work. At the time, he worked in the cardiac cath lab at Edward Hospital. He arrived in the NICU in the early morning to spend time with Neeti before heading down one floor at 8 a.m. At the end of the day, Manan would do a surgical scrub, change his clothes and spend the evening with Neeti. Because of the potential exposure to COVID-19 and other viruses and bacteria while working in the adult unit, Manan says he became the world’s craziest hand-sanitizer user, which was a running joke in the NICU.

He says, "My wife forced me to go back to work. Though it was hard to go back, in a way it was a blessing. With what I do, my focus is on the patient that I am taking care of, and it allowed me to get through the many months. It was almost easier being a physician than a dad a lot of those days. But I tried my best to take off my physician hat as soon as I got to the NICU, and I think that helped."

Neeti: A feisty, moral person

Neeti was small but mighty from the start. Her parents remember hearing a story about when a night nurse noticed Neeti's heart rate looked high on the monitor, so she checked on the baby. The nurse found Neeti in a push up position, the diaper at the ankles, and pee all over the crib.

Neeti means "moral person," so her family cherishes Neeti's first Halloween costume: Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In 2020, Neeti won the Edward Hospital online Halloween Costume Contest for NICU babies. Dhara doubts they will ever come up with a better costume.

Other parents who face a NICU hospitalization for their child could learn from the balance the Naiks practiced during the highs and lows. They were patient while also inquisitive. They socialized when it felt right and went for walks around the hospital campus when calm was needed. They discovered how to be doctors and parents in an area of medicine that was foreign to them and trusted the process of the dedicated NICU team.

Pictured above: Rajeev Dixit, M.D., and Neeti Naik reunite at Edward Hospital. Neeti’s parents donated books to the NICU in honor of her first birthday.

Some babies are born needing special care. At Edward-Elmhurst Health, we’re fully equipped to care for newborns who require special attention, such as extremely premature infants, infants on ventilators and newborns with congenital conditions. Our transport team is available 24/7 with a dedicated ambulance to transfer high-risk mothers and newborns needing an advanced level of neonatal care to our hospitals.

Edward Hospital provides a Level III NICU — with the capabilities to treat the sickest and most fragile newborns of all gestational ages, including those with a variety of congenital and surgical conditions. Elmhurst Hospital provides a Level IIe Special Care Nursery with extended capabilities to care for low birth weight and premature infants, as well as infants on ventilators, at 30 or more weeks gestation. The neonatologists, maternal fetal medicine doctors and many sub-specialties work across both units to coordinate continuity of care within the system.

Learn more about the NICU and Special Care Nursery at Edward-Elmhurst Health.