Home at Last: One Valley Family’s 100-Day NICU Journey
Welcoming your first baby rarely goes exactly as planned. But for Brianna and Dominic Glendinning, nothing could have prepared them for what happened next. When Brianna was 28 weeks pregnant, cramping quickly turned into intense pain. Just moments later, she was delivering her premature baby boy on the floor of her bathroom.
“I wasn’t sure what was happening initially, but I knew it was pretty serious. Maybe it was a mother’s intuition,” Brianna said. “I told Dom to call 9-1-1, and in the span of about five minutes, my world was turned upside down. I had just delivered a baby, and my house was full of paramedics doing everything they could to make sure the baby and I were going to be okay.”
Only one ambulance initially responded to the Glendinnings’ home, so baby Luca was taken to the hospital first. Brianna was transported about 10 minutes later. Upon arrival at Valleywise Health, Luca was taken immediately to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for evaluation and treatment.
According to Liz Bassoni, a Valleywise Health Neonatal Nurse Practitioner, lung development is one of the biggest concerns for babies born prematurely.
“When Luca arrived, we inserted an endotracheal tube, which means he was intubated, so we could administer medicine directly into his lungs to help speed up development,” Liz said. “We also performed an ultrasound on his head to ensure there was no bleeding in the brain, since he was delivered on his head in the bathroom.”
One of the first people Brianna encountered at the hospital was Alyssa Munson, a Valleywise Health NICU Developmental Programmer. To Brianna, Alyssa’s presence felt like divine intervention.
“Brianna and I were roommates and sorority sisters at Arizona State University,” Alyssa said. “We remained friends for years. It felt like a Godsend that I was still at work the night Luca was born. We held each other and cried, and I tried to ease her fears by letting her know he was under the care of the most amazing practitioners at Valleywise.”
That was the beginning of the Glendinning family’s 100-day NICU journey.
Several weeks after Luca’s arrival, he began having trouble breathing and had to be intubated again. It was difficult for his parents to see and felt like a setback, but the procedure helped save Luca’s life.
Brianna visited Luca whenever possible, and the nurses encouraged her to practice “kangaroo care,” or skin-to-skin contact. Research shows skin-to-skin contact can provide important benefits for premature babies, including supporting healing and reducing the risk of infection.
“The nurses were my backbone. They were my friends, my confidants, and my shoulders to cry on,” Brianna said.
“They patiently explained things over and over until I learned how to read the monitors myself, listen to Luca’s breathing, and recognize changes in the color of his skin. The nurses taught me everything so that I felt like I had a teeny tiny way of being in control of Luca’s well-being and health.”
For families who spend months in the NICU, the medical team can become an extended family. Parents and caregivers form deep connections with the nurses and practitioners caring for their child.
Now, a year later, Brianna, Dominic and Luca are sharing their NICU experience across the Valley.
“It’s hard to put into words the gratitude I have for the medical team at Valleywise and everything they did for us,” Brianna said.
“It gets harder to think about the longer we’ve been away from the NICU because now we know Luca. He’s a little person, and to think that he was so close to not being here. The appreciation we have for all the doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners is indescribable.”
