The scene at Sanford Children’s in Fargo was celebratory. Nurses flocked to see twins Hazel and Briggs Nielsen, and their parents Alex and Sarah. Sarah Nielsen was a NICU nurse in this very unit before moving west to a farm in New England, North Dakota. So it was a shock when she ended up back at Sanford Fargo for a very different, very scary reason.
The other side
The Nielsens were expecting their twins in late September 2024, but in late May — four months early — the unexpected happened.
“I just stood up to go to bed and my water broke,” Sarah said. “When I went into labor at 23 weeks, like I knew what that meant. I knew that’s right at that cusp of viability.”
Her nursing instincts kicked in, but this was different.
“It was scary being on the other side,” Sarah said.
The twins were born on May 29 in Bismarck. Briggs weighed 1 lb., 5 oz., Hazel just 1 lb., 4 oz. Babies born so early and so small are known as micropreemies, and just like so many others born so soon, Briggs and Hazel suffered life-threatening complications.
“Hazel had a bowel perforation, and so they said, ‘We’re going to need to flight you guys to Fargo,’” Sarah said. “And Briggs, he didn’t look very good. His belly was looking colors it shouldn’t look. It was kind of more of a dusky blackish color.”
The Nielsens were headed to Fargo.
Personal and professional
In the NICU, word spread quickly.
“When we first got the call that we were going to be getting the babies and we all found out – oh my gosh, we know these babies – you know, it is a little bit different,” said Jatia Jandro, a registered nurse in the Sanford Fargo NICU. “To have Sarah come, and to see her for that first time when we haven’t gotten to see her for a while, and seeing her in this vulnerable state being on the other side of the situation, I don’t know, it just hit a little different.”
Balancing the personal from the professional was important for Mohamed Mohamed, M.D., as well.
“Sometimes it’s hard to control your emotions. It was a little bit different to see one of your colleagues in that situation,” Dr. Mohamed said. “She knows the staff and she knows what we do and our expertise. I think that was a comfort for her. But we realized at that moment she’s also a mom and not a NICU staff.”
Both twins would need multiple surgeries on their bowels, and Briggs would even need heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic. There were times Alex feared the worst.
“What if I never get to hold them?” Alex said. “That was a big thing for me. When pregnant, Sarah said, ‘What are you most excited about?’ And I was like, ‘I’m so excited to get to hold them for the first time.’ And it took a lot of patience. It was two and a half weeks before I got to hold my son for the first time and almost exactly a month before I got told my daughter. And that was kind of hard.”
The twins eventually hit every checkpoint though, and 142 days after first arriving in Fargo, they finally graduated from the NICU.
“It’s a lot of work, especially in the first week of life,” said Dr. Mohamed. “It’s like you graduate from university. A lot of work is done and now the celebration is you get to go home.”
Full circle
Briggs and Hazel have had regular checkups with specialists in Fargo since heading home, and the family always tries to stop into the NICU when they’re in town. It’s something everyone looks forward to.
“A lot of us are filled with so much pride when something like that happens, to see the babies come back smiling and growing and developing like they should be, and healthy. That’s such a great feeling,” said Jandro.
“We’ve had such great support systems even just from the staff here too,” Sarah said. “We’re just very lucky to have everyone that has been a part of our journey.”
These former colleagues and friends worked together to give care not just to two micropreemie babies, but to their parents too.
“You wonder how much some of these nurses get to see the miracles that they helped,” said Alex through tears. “The miracles that they helped us have in our lives. I wonder how often (Dr. Mohamed) gets to hold one of them after they leave here.
“I know the exact spot where I was when she called me. Because everything changed after that, you know? I actually ended up seeding that field this year, and they actually came and rode with me. It was a full circle moment to go from so scary to having them being there with me. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
From coworkers to caregivers. From scared to safe. From their farm to Fargo and back again. “Full circle” sums up the Nielsen family’s journey pretty well.
Learn more
- ‘Micropreemie’ unit opens with help from local co-op
- Micropreemie gets to go home after 137 days in NICU
- MoMo twins bring two Bismarck families together at Sanford
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Posted In Bismarck, Children's, Dickinson, Fargo, Nursing and Nursing Support
