YORK -- There's new technology that allows parents to spend time with their newborns in the NICU even when they're away from the hospital.
WellSpan introduced "angel eye" earlier this month, a camera that allows those who can't be at the hospital to see their baby through a live stream at any given time of the day.
It's a new feeling for Anne Marie Watson -- a first time mom -- as her daughter, Malayna, was born August 25, eight weeks early.
"To be discharged without your child is very painful," she said. "This is like my second home, it's become family and just the place where I feel like I need to be."
But for those times Anne Marie can't, she's got the next best thing.
The angel eye camera that monitors each baby around the clock. It allows her to check in on Malayna at any time of the day.
"There's been moments where I can see my baby getting upset, and a nurse will slide a paper under the camera and say, 'it's time to eat mommy' or lay a note in the bassinet that says, 'I ate 60 mils today mom, love you,' things like that," Watson said. "It's the small things that really mean a lot."
Each NICU parent at York Hospital has an option to create an account which they can then add friends or family, so anyone around the world can watch.
"Sometimes you're just at home wondering, 'is everything okay,'" said Debi McNamara, nurse manager at the NICU. "You know that it is, but you want to see that it is."
She added, "There's a tremendous amount of post traumatic stress disorder that occurs for the NICU family so it's our hope that by offering this technology that we can at least alleviate a small bit of that."
