Almost $5M invested to bring private rooms, bathrooms and live camera feeds for parents of newborns

Private rooms, live baby cams coming to IWK neonatal ICU

Almost $5 million worth of renovations coming to Halifax's neonatal intensive care unit will allow new parents to spend time with their babies — even if they're not in the same room.

On Wednesday, the IWK Health Centre announced what it's calling the Chez NICU Home Solution, which aims to support families with newborns in neonatal intensive care.

Claire Bonsey's daughter weighed only three pounds when she was born 10 weeks early. That led to a month-long stay at the current NICU — a large room in which spaces for families and incubators are separated by curtains.

New mother Claire Bonsey says when her daughter was born 10 weeks early, she didn't get much sleep during her month-long stay at the existing NICU. (CBC)

Bonsey says it was too loud and busy to get much rest.

"I was there for pretty much eight to 12 hours every day and it never got any easier leaving at all," she said.

44 new private rooms

(click here to see the new room video on the

CBC)

But the new funding promises to change that and the space will boast many advancements. Read full story here.