Sara Cohen, DNP, the practice manager of the Penn Parenting Resource Center at Pennsylvania Hospital, finds that the center is a place of healing-both for the new parents receiving mental health support and newborn resources, but also for herself. She reflects on the 20-year path that led her to this role and how each step has helped her feel at home at Pennsylvania Hospital-the nation's first-which celebrates its 275th birthday this year.
I gave birth to my first son, Charlie, less than a year after starting as an Intensive Care Nursery (ICN) bedside nurse at Pennsylvania Hospital in 2005. He was delivered six weeks early and had to be admitted to our unit. My second son, Aaron, was also born early and an ICN patient in 2009. Both were high-risk pregnancies.
When Charlie was in the ICN, I remember being in the hospital hallway, crying, and thinking that I did something wrong. But the doctors reassured me: 'Sara, you know this isn't your fault.' A lot of the families I took care of had babies born this early, and even earlier. But I was in this pure mom mode. It gave me a great appreciation for what parents of babies in the ICN go through.
