The wait outside the NICU doors was almost as educational as anything I saw on the tour. I have a habit of being early and so I was instructed to wait outside. As you can see these are some pretty thick doors. To enter, you must check in with the receptionist. She takes your picture ID and gets a ton of information, after checking to see that you're on a list of visitors. Then the receptionist calls back to the baby's nurse to see if the baby can have visitors at that moment. Then you're instructed to wait in the waiting room or sent back to be with the baby.

If you are allowed back, you must first gown up and scrub off every single time. This is to prevent you from taking germs into the NICU. Since these are the sickest and smallest babies, their immune systems can't fight off even the mildest infection.

While I sat there I heard many stories. A neonataologist I actually know was talking to a family about their baby girl who had "crashed" just this morning. The doctor was taking his time and explaining what happened, what he had done and what he thought that meant. "We're on the ledge, and while we've stepped back a bit, I'd like to be further away..."

Another family was coming in, they were hoping to take their baby home today. They chatted with some others in the waiting room as they were processing into the NICU. They'd been there since September, their baby boy had been born three months early. They were unprepared for his birth but were now anxious to get him home. Soon they would know if today was the day...