Today was moving day for our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)!

Our NICU babies (including baby John, who is featured in the above video) have begun the move into our new space. In addition to a higher bed count (increasing from 59 to 70), the new NICU has private rooms for all patients and provides special accommodations for multiple births.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Special lighting features such as sound-activated lights that work as visual reminders to keep voices low
• Family rooms for baptisms, birthdays and end-of-life care
• Parent sleep rooms for when parents cannot sleep in the room but want to stay close
• Milk kitchen for the management, preparation and distribution of human milk

The Children’s Wisconsin NICU is the largest Level IV NICU in the state, meaning it can offer the highest level of acute care available. This is the first phase of the redesign and expansion, with the second phase being completed in 2016.