When Molly Joshua found out she was having twin boys, she expected her life to change. What she didn’t expect was a four-month-long stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital - Madison, Wisconsin or a career change that would send her back to that very NICU.
Life as a NICU mom
Molly and her wife Kim were overjoyed when the doctor told them she was having twins after doing intra-uterine insemination. Her pregnancy was progressing as expected until she started having abdominal pain at 24 weeks. After four days of monitoring, Molly went into labor.
“They admitted me and gave me magnesium to try and stop the labor,” Molly said. “But at 3 a.m. on June 26, 2015, I delivered two twin boys.”
Ezekiel and Isaiah both weighed less than two pounds, and they were immediately admitted into the NICU. The doctors told Molly and Kim the babies would stay in the NICU until around their due date, which was October 13. A long time to be in the hospital.
“It was hard for me to capture all of the information because I was in labor, and I was scared about what was happening,” Molly said. “But once we were admitted, I was so comforted by this place. The nurses became like family, and we developed a consistent care team that rallied around us and lifted us up on our hardest days. Some of them still work here, and I am so in awe of those people. Every day they saved my babies’ lives.”
Cheryl Ordens, RN, was one of the NICU team members who cared for Ezekiel and Isaiah. She said Molly was at the hospital every day pumping breastmilk for her babies and asking a lot of questions.
“We like to get the parents involved in the baby’s care right away,” Cheryl said. “And from day one, Molly wanted to participate. They were tiny, and it was pretty scary for her with all of the wires and machines beeping, but watching her step forward and take initiative, I knew she would do well. I even joked that by the end of their stay, she would be a NICU nurse.”
Molly said she developed a close bond with Cheryl and the whole NICU team because she could tell they truly cared for her and the babies.
“It’s hard to sit and watch your baby in isolation and not feel like you’re a mom,” Molly said. “Then the nurse asks, ‘Would you like to change their diaper,’ and you have this little one-pound baby in your hand, and you’re changing his diaper, and it just changes your world.”
After four long months in the NICU, the boys were able to go home. The family had strict orders not to take the twins out in public and to avoid daycare if possible because their immune systems were still vulnerable, so Molly decided to leave her job and stay home. When her sons turned two and a half, she made another life-changing decision.
“I wanted to reciprocate what the doctors and nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital did for me,” Molly said. “I didn’t know how else to do that besides become a nurse. I could have just made hats or donated equipment, but the bedside was where I felt I could make the most difference.”
Molly fulfilled that goal and graduated from nursing school in 2020.
Life as a NICU nurse
After working at another local hospital, Molly felt the pull to join the St. Mary’s NICU team and was hired in June 2021. Almost six years to the day her twins were born here, Molly walked back into the unit as an RN, joining the team of nurses who had been so kind to her as a new mother.
“Molly has a keen insight into what it’s like to have a baby in the NICU,” Cheryl said. “She uses that to provide support to all the parents who have to walk out of the hospital without their babies. The ability to gain the trust of parents can’t be taught. It’s something special inside, and Molly has that. It’s been great to have her perspective on the team.”
And that perspective gives Molly unique insight in caring for NICU babies and their families.
“In the first couple weeks, it’s pretty scary,” Molly said. “But we will wrap you up and take care of you. This place is magical.”
