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A view from the other side of pregnancy opens a nurse's eyes Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Beth Noyes, a neonatal intensive care nurse, holds twin daughters Kaitlyn, left, and Lauren. The girls were born premature, gives Noyes the experience of what of what it is like to be a mother under her unit's care. By JONEL ALECCIA The two tiny babies, hooked up to monitors and bristling with tubes, should have been a familiar sight to Beth Noyes, a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at Rogue Valley Medical Center. But they weren't, of course. These babies were different. These babies were hers. And in the first days after the March 29 premature birth of twins Kaitlyn Elizabeth and Lauren Renae, Noyes says she gained a whole new perspective on her profession. "I was a good nurse before," says Noyes, 26, who has worked nights on the NICU for three years. "But I'll be a better nurse now." Now, Noyes says, she'll understand even better the helplessness parents feel when they leave their fragile children in a maze of monitors and tubes. "I felt lucky, I knew the staff," says Noyes, "but I was really tuned into the emotional aspect of turning over their care. As a nurse and as a mother, I felt I should be doing it for them." Born seven weeks early, the twins required immediate intensive care. Kaitlyn weighed only 3 pounds, 12 ounces; Lauren weighed 4 pounds, 2 ounces. In addition to their small size, the girls needed interventions Noyes has performed on dozens of other babies. "They were intubated, they had arterial lines, they had blood pressure meds," she says. In addition, both girls have ducts in their hearts that haven't closed, a condition that may require Kaitlyn to have surgery later. Because of their conditions, the babies weren't allowed to come home until this week - Mother's Day week - making for a nerve-wracking delay their parents won't soon forget. "Usually, I'm the one who whisks the babies away," Noyes says. "Then it happened to me and I was like, 'Hey!'" The girls are the first children for Noyes and her husband, David Noyes, 29, a corrections officer in Talent. Because she's had so much experience with small babies, Beth Noyes was more comfortable than most parents with the high-tech sights and sounds of the NICU. There were times, however, when experience proved a mixed blessing at best. "When the alarms went off, I knew what that meant," Noyes says. "If they were up on oxygen, I knew that was a bad sign. "I think it was more scary, because you knew what could happen." By the time both girls were allowed home Wednesday, Noyes' fears were calmed. At about 6 pounds apiece, the twins are small but sturdy babies who alternate sleeping and eating schedules, leaving their mom weary but happy. "They eat every three hours, but it takes about that long to feed them!" she says. Noyes plans to spend Mother's Day quietly enjoying the babies who've brought meaning to her life in more ways than she imagined. "I always wanted to be an NICU nurse," Noyes says. "Little did I know it would be preparing me for this." Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.