When Christine Parasram makes her rounds through the neonatal intensive care unit at Flushing Hospital in Queens, New York, she's caring for newborns with the same care she once received as a NICU baby herself — and as a NICU mom.
Born in the same hospital where she now attends to prematurely born patients as an assistant head nurse, Parasram has found herself coming full circle: from the baby being watched around-the-clock to the one working at odd hours to assuage the same fears her parents once had.
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WATCH HERESitting down with Jenna Bush Hager for an interview with TODAY, Parasram shares that her decision to become a NICU nurse was sealed when she had her own experience as a parent. Even 10 years after giving birth to her daughter Emily, Parasram still recalls the anguish of having to leave her baby — all 2 pounds, 2 ounces of her — in the care of a NICU team.
“We were anxious. We were nervous. We were scared,” Parasram recalled. “It’s just the idea of leaving your baby behind, your most prized possession behind. It was very overwhelming.”
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Through the experience, the NICU nurses offered her hope.
“The nurses were amazing. Not only was she their patient, I was their patient as well,” she recalled. “I remember them holding my hand and actually going into the NICU ... crying, and just being so overwhelmed, and them just having me in their arms.”
The impact of the nurses' care of Parasram and her daughter was profound. So much so that, despite being a newly minted second-time mom, she decided to make a career change. She left her job as a medical assistant at a dermatologist's office behind to enroll in nursing school.
“You went back to school to become a nurse when you had a toddler, a baby at home, which is a ton of work. But it was worth it,” Bush Hager noted, to which Parasram agreed.
“It was definitely worth it,” Parasram continued. “I still remember how they made me feel. And it’s an honor to be able to provide that to someone else.”
Parasram has worked in the NICU for seven years now, where her hours can be long and grueling with 12-hour shifts that often include overnights.
“It gets hard, but it’s our love, it’s our passion for what we do that keeps us in the game,” she explains of the nurses she works with. “That keeps us going.”
On May 8, Parasram appeared live on the TODAY Plaza, where she was surprised by a former NICU patient and the patient’s grateful mother. In an emotional moment, she was also joined by her fellow nurses, whom she considers family.
"It’s such a rewarding job to watch the most critical baby, the smallest baby, then grow, flourish, and then go home," Parasram said.
Plus, there's the deep fulfillment in knowing that by sharing her personal journey with the uncertain parents who come through the NICU, she can provide a sense of comfort about potential futures to come, where their little ones aren't so little or vulnerable anymore.
“I love telling them stories, and letting them know that even though our babies are so tiny, they grow by the second,” she says. “I do love sharing my stories, because I do see that anxiety, and it does help.”
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