Katrina Mullen NICU NURSE WHO ADOPTED TEEN MOM AND TRIPLETS By April Rowe, RN PHOTOS COURTESY OF K ATRINA MULLEN
IN A HEARTWARMING STORY, a Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU) nurse went above and beyond after she stepped in to adopt a teen mother and her premature triplets who were at risk of being separated by Child Protective Services (CPS). The nurse formed a special bond with the young mother, never realizing that she would soon make a life-changing decision. Katrina Mullen, BSN, RN, from Indianapolis, Indiana, has been a NICU nurse for over 24 years. Having been a teen mom herself, Katrina understood the challenges and difficulties the young mother, Shariya Small, was facing. Shariya was only 14 when her triplets were born at 26 weeks gestation. Not only was she dealing with typical teen parenting issues, but her babies were born extremely premature, and were hospitalized for over four months.
Katrina Mullen and Shariya Small
Having been a teen mom herself, Katrina understood the challenges and difficulties the young mother, Shariya Small, was facing.
GOING BEYOND NICU BEDSIDE NURSING “When I first met Shariya, she was very quiet and timid. She didn’t really speak to anyone and just sat at the babies’ bedsides for hours. It was a lot for her to handle, like it is for any NICU mom, but she had three of them, which made it that much harder,” said Katrina, who was one of the nurses caring for the triplets. Katrina noticed that Shariya had a lack of support and spent her days in the NICU alone, oftentimes wearing the same clothing for days in a row. Katrina was able to connect with her by discussing her own teen pregnancy and adoption story. Shariya slowly started opening up more to her, and Katrina soon became not just another one of the NICU nurses but her only support. The triplets, two girls and a boy, Serenitee, Sarayah, and Samari, had a long and stressful NICU journey. After months of hospitalization, the girls — Serenitee and Sarayah — were discharged home, and their brother, Samari, got a gastric tube (G-tube) and was discharged as well.
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“On the day the babies went home, I left Shariya a note with my phone number and said if she needed anything, she could call me. We then started texting and calling each other back and forth. Sometimes, she would call me sobbing and was completely overwhelmed. We would FaceTime too, and she would show me the babies and ask me a lot of questions,” Katrina explained.
KATRINA’S WORLD WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE One day, during their usual FaceTiming sessions, Katrina noticed that one of the babies appeared much thinner than before. Concerned, Katrina went to visit Shariya and the babies. There, she noticed that the mom and babies were living in a different home and appeared to all be sleeping in the living room. She had a gut feeling that something was not right. Katrina advised Shariya to take her son to the hospital due to his weight loss and frail appearance. He was admitted for failure to
