Soft monitor beeps mixed with the sound of bells jingling in the Bryan East Campus NICU.
Christmas had come early Wednesday as Santa made his annual trip to the NICU floor where he met more than two dozen babies.
“Being in the NICU is hard, and this is a hard time of year when things aren’t going happy and jolly as you expect it to,” NICU nurse Rachel Kreikemeier said. “It’s their first Christmas and they should be able to do all the normal Christmas things, like Santa.”
Santa holds Bowen Bartlett while standing with mom Presley Bartlett and dad Tucker Bartlett of Gothenburg during a visit to the Bryan Health East Campus NICU on Wednesday.
For the past six weeks, the Bartlett family has gotten to know the NICU very well after baby Bowen was born early at 31 weeks. As a new mom, Presley Bartlett said she’s been excited to start the tradition of taking her son to meet Santa.
“It’s nice that we have the opportunity this year as well to see Santa and come in and celebrate the season with him, even though these aren’t the circumstances we expected,” Presley Bartlett said.
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Despite being three hours away from their home in Gothenburg, Tucker Bartlett said the NICU staff has formed a little community around the family and their first baby.
“They treat them like they’re his own,” Tucker Bartlett said.
Santa holds Sebastian Reed during a visit to the Bryan Health East Campus NICU on Wednesday.
Each heartwarming visit with Santa included a gift from the nurses filled with treats for the parents and an ornament holding a special ribbon cut to measure the same length as each baby.
Saint Nick’s entourage included Kreikemeier as an elf, and the other nurses as Santa’s helpers and a reindeer.
“We have the best job in the world, especially this time of year,” Kreikemeier. “I feel so blessed every day to be able to come here and see the babies and watch them grow. It’s just the coolest place in the world.”
NICU nurse manager Sadie Delp has enjoyed the Santa visits for the past 10 years that she’s been part of the unit.
“It really just brings a sense of normalcy in an otherwise abnormal situation,” Delp said. “This is not how you imagine your first Christmas with a baby.”
Santa visits a baby in the Bryan Health East Campus NICU on Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Lincoln.
Beyond the visit from Santa, the nurses work to make each hospital room a home, whether the families are there for 48 hours or six months. Presley Bartlett said the nurses have been supportive with scrapbook pages, decorative doors and even onesies for their son.
In each NICU room, paper caterpillars can be found hanging on the walls as staff members add a circle to celebrate every milestone a baby makes, including celebrating first holidays.
“The NICU is a very challenging place, but also, there are little moments every day that we celebrate,” Delp said.
