Friday, December 30, 2011
We watched many families go through the discharge process before it was our turn. My daughter spent two months in the Level 2 Special Care nursery where she was surrounded by babies who had much shorter stays. We quickly learned to watch for the signs that discharge was nearing. At our hospital every parent was required to take Infant CPR and go through Carseat Education and Installation. Babies had to pass a carseat test and go at least a week without any episodes. Parents who were taking babies home on monitors were sent to special trainings but our hospital has a "if you need a monitor you need to be in the NICU" policy so that was pretty rare. Our baby also had a final head ultrasound, hip ultrasound, and an OCRG as part of her discharge exams.
As with everything else NICU-related, this varies a lot from hospital to hospital. So we asked preemie moms to share their experiences about discharge tests and trainings. Here are their experiences.
What kind of tests, trainings, or evaluations did your NICU require of babies and parents before sending them home?
As with everything else NICU-related, this varies a lot from hospital to hospital. So we asked preemie moms to share their experiences about discharge tests and trainings. Here are their experiences.
What kind of tests, trainings, or evaluations did your NICU require of babies and parents before sending them home?
- "We had to watch a CPR video and then be "quized" by the nurse."
- "We received training on the medical equipment we were sent home with (oxygen concentrator and spare travel tanks and apnea monitor) as well as a course on infant CPR for us and our son's grandparents who babysit frequently."
- "We had the eye test, hearing tests, and echocardiogram (our son has a murmer) in the last few days before discharge. The doctors scheduled all his tests for the same day, which really wore our baby out! I will never forget coming in after his eye test (the last test of the day) and seeing him in his bassinet, completely non-responsive to me (he was breathing and alive, just not happy or wakeable like normal) thinking he seemed like he'd lost the will to live. I would recommend having those tests not all scheduled back to back if you have any say in it."
- "We were lucky to leave without monitors so we had Pharmacy Training, where the hospital pharmacist comes by to make sure you understand how to administer the babies medicines, CPR, baby basics class, and that's about it"
- "We'd had to watch videos on CPR, shaken baby syndrome and something else prior to discharge (We saw them over the weekend since we knew the open air crib was a good sign). We had brief training on the apena monitor too. Other than that, nothing, not even a car seat test. We came in with the car seat, signed, the docs, and walked out of the hospital. It was kind of odd to be honest."
- "Each baby had to pass a car seat test. And they both had a modified barium swallow shortly before discharge as well as MRI's to check on the resolution of their brain bleeds. DD was also evaluated by the hospital's developmental clinic prior to discharge and the therapist gave us things to work on at home while we waited on her EI eval."
- "He had a hearing test and car seat test. We sign the okay for the hearing test when he was born and the car seat was brought in within 3 days of him leaving."
- "Car seat test, hearing test (we failed the first one) and all her medical tests (Head US, ekg, EEG, heart US, blood work etc.)"
- "Once a d/c date was set we have a hearing test, car seat test, and set up a visit by a home care nurse to check in and check his weight once he got home."
Thursday, December 29, 2011
When I had my son at the end of 30 weeks it was
pretty clear that he’d be living at the hospital for a while. I wouldn’t get to
feel his skin against mine right away and we certainly wouldn’t be able to
breastfeed during his first hour of life.
What happens when a neonatal hurricane whisks your
baby out of an OR and it is hours before you know what he looks like? Then, on
top of that, it might be days or even weeks until you can touch your little
one.
How can you be an attached parent when you’re
separate?
Parenting a preemie was the section you probably
skipped over when reading about having your baby. I know I did. Those chapters have come to haunt me as well as any other section of a book that references what to do just after birth.
There are things you can do while living separately
to aid in AP. We practiced kangaroo care every day to get as much skin to skin
contact as possible. I slept with his hats or carried them around so he’d have
my scent with him. I read him books and had discussions with him and also
kept long periods of silence.
We live in the city without a car so I’d been
planning on skipping the stroller and wearing him exclusively. I was really
excited to find out that BabyHawk carriers are not only
preemie-approved but are also used by a NICU in Florida! It felt good to
support such a supportive company. Nine months later (and seven adjusted) we're still BW'ing and moving onto a sturdy German wrap.
It’s really hard to adjust to a preemie plan when
you had envisioned something so different. That’s how it is for all of us,
whether AP or otherwise, but I'd like to think that the extra time we spent together
in NICU only strengthened our bond.
 |
| Enjoying a strip of red pepper . |
I’d never heard of baby-led weaning (BLW) before reading about it on TheBump. I’d been planning to make my own baby food before I learned babies didn’t need to start on purees.
You mean, I can just give them food?
That sounded much easier to me and my husband. “Hey,
did you know you don’t have to give a baby mushy food?” I asked. “No. Then, why
would we?”
We wouldn’t. Instead we’re taking the BLW-route
which is a different path to the same result.
The method has existed for a long time, but the term
is new. It was coined by Gill Rapley who wrote Baby-led Weaning as well as an accompanying
cookbook.
When deciding to BLW a preemie go by adjusted age and read your baby’s cues. I’ve felt that using this method
has gotten me even further in tune with my son.
My blog can be found at Urban Flowerpot where I talk about raising Tristan and other fun things.
My blog can be found at Urban Flowerpot where I talk about raising Tristan and other fun things.
For more information on BLW I suggest reading the book and
finding the BLW group on FB.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
It is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. That time of year when we all sit down to celebrate our holiday traditions with family and friends. However, when you have a baby in the NICU the last thing you feel is merry. Your life is already upside down, you’ve been cheated of a typical birth experience and now you don’t get to celebrate the holidays in the way you dreamed.
When I was pregnant with baby, my due date being November 29, we were thrilled that by Christmas we would have a new baby home. All that changed when Isabella was born on August 18 and didn’t come home until January 3rd. We celebrated our first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years in the NICU.
It is my hope that you find comfort and joy in my experience celebrating the holidays with a preemie in the NICU.
The nurses were wonderful, they bought Isabella a red velvet Christmas dress. They decorated the NICU and had a holiday party. I put up a little people nativity scene in her pod. I bought those gel cling-to-the-window Christmas decorations and put them on her isolette.
The best Christmas present was getting into an open crib!
I played Christmas music on my drive to the hospital, drank warm chocolate milk (reminds me of Christmas time). My friend dropped off some tamales (traditional Mexican Christmas dish).
What helped the most was not ignoring that this was our first Christmas. We didn't treat it like any other day. We spent the day together, we read Christmas books, and we took family pictures dressed in our holiday best. We bought a little Santa hat for baby and 1st Christmas ornaments. We also had our Christmas dinner in a nice restaurant near the hospital.
Just because you are in the NICU doesn't mean you and baby don’t deserve to celebrate the holidays. Dress up your baby with a cute holiday hat. Buy blankets with a holiday motif to swaddle your baby or cover their mattress. If you want to skip that holiday party, DO IT! I remember how awkward it was to be around people at birthday parties, church and even family when baby was in the hospital.
We are now celebrating our first Christmas “at home”. We decorated our tree with pink and green ornaments in honor of Isabella, practically all the gifts under the tree are hers, and my family is visiting. I look back at our first Christmas and while it was different, honestly, that's part of our life story. I'd like to think we are more grateful people because of it. Happy holidays!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
I had made up my mind from the beginning that I wanted to breastfeed. I wasn't "against" formula, and if it didn't work out that was ok too. But I was going to give it a try. When I went in for my c-section my nurse was aware of my desire to breastfeed, and she made sure that I had a pump waiting at my bedside the minute I was back in my room.
The first time I pumped I couldn't feel a thing. The second time I screamed in pain... HOLY HECK did it hurt! My nurse came in and calmly told me I might consider turning the pump settings down (whoops), that helped but man did it hurt the first week or so. Then of course comes the joy of cracked nipples. I was pumping every 3 hours around the clock, at home & at the NICU.
Our NICU didn't have a very comfy pumping room and often I was more comfortable sitting by the twins bedside pumping. I also found I got more milk then or anytime after Kangaroo care. It didn't take long before the nurses told me they didn't have room for more milk, so I started stocking my freezer at home. For the longest time the twins took less then an ounce each, so I was making more then they needed (a blessing in disguise of course). At the same time I was beginning to wear down emotionally and mentally. One of our nurses then suggested that I try only pumping every 4 hours at night so I could get some rest, and once a week I'd take a night off and sleep the whole night thru. This worked for about a month and a half... then I noticed my supply was starting to tank a little. Meanwhile in the NICU they were fortifing the twins BM with Neosure for extra calories and we were soooo close to getting to actually trying to breastfeed. I'll never forget the day they said we could start "non nutrative sucking". Blake got to try first, it wasn't going well, they gave me a nipple shield, it went a little better. A few days later he was back on CPAP and we had to stop. A week later I got one shot with Addison, she bit down hard.
The LC's were just about driving me crazy, bless their hearts. My supply continued to drop no matter how many power pumps or anything else I tried. At this point I was getting about an ounce to two ounces each pump. The twins were taking an ounce a peice. I started trying to track when I got the most milk, and was considering supplements to increase supply. Then one of the LC's asked me something about my medical history and my PCOS came up...she then explained that PCOS also had a hand in my supply and that a lot of woman with PCOS have supply issues and do not benefit from supplements. Plus I'll be really selfishly honest, the idea of smelling like maple syrup (from Fenergreek) was not appealing to me in the least. My OB said he didn't reccomend any supplements either.
After much thought and debating it to the ground in my head, I made the decision to cut back and ween off the pump in effort to quit BF. Within days of decreasing pumping sessions my supply diminished. In a weeks time I kid you not I was dryed up. I knew at this point that they were past the most critical stage and that they tolerated formula, because they were already getting half and half. And any attempt at BFing was now a ways off again...
I still have days where I wish it would have worked out differently and if we ever have anymore children I will try again. I EPed for 2 1/2 months exactly and I was never so glad to put the pump away. It was the right choice for us all at that moment.
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