The First Days
Wednesday 5/21 -
After all was said and done, Chad & I spent a little time bonding with Charleigh before allowing our parents back in the room. Once they arrived they were swarming like hawks wanting to hold her. Since it was the ever important skin to skin bonding time, we sent them off to get some dinner for us before they came back to hold her and visit.
Charleigh got her first bath by the awesome Nurse Julie while I rested before eating dinner. After dinner and our parents left we started to settle in for the night. Not long after we turned off the lights Charleigh started screaming and spitting up. She was spitting up so frequently that we were afraid to go to sleep and decided to call the nursery. (Especially since I was unable to get out of bed by myself, etc.). Nurse S came in (using her initials because we didn't like her) and was very condescending towards us, particularly when she discovered that Charleigh's temperature was low. She swept her off to the nursery for observation and we fell fast asleep.
Thursday 5/22 -
After calling the nursery regarding Charleigh, Nurse S came to our room to break the news...Charleigh couldn't maintain a proper body temperature and was continuing to vomit. They admitted her to the NICU while we were sleeping. Nurse S claims that she came to tell us this in the middle of the night, but I find that hard to believe since I woke up every time they took somebody back to the OR. (My room was directly next to the OR).
We waited in our room until we ate breakfast and Dr a Heaps came by to check on us before heading to the NICU. When he found out that she was in the NICU, he decided to keep us another night instead of discharging us as planned. This took a bit of finagling on his part, as L & D was overflowing. Turns out they canceled a few inductions the prior day because there were so many babies born. Thankfully he knows what's he's doing and got that settled for me. Although I was ready to go home and missed the fur babies, I was thankful to be close to my girl.
We called our parents and broke them the news before heading to the NICU. Even when we went to see her, the poor thing was still getting sick, and it broke our hearts. With her being in the NICU, and the fact that all the NICU beds were full, we were allowed to see her only at feeding times. I honestly think this made bonding difficult. There's nothing worse than seeing your baby hooked up to all these monitors and under a warmer. The neonatologist came to talk to us and said she was going to be running lab work and a kidney ultrasound on her to see what was going on. They suspected sepsis (possible infection) and had already diagnosed her with hypothermia and difficulty tolerating feeds. We waited anxiously all day for the reports, and even waited to shower until Chad's parents got there to ensure there was somebody there in the event they came with information.
Friday 5/23 -
Dr Heaps came in early to check on both Charleigh and myself. He had checked on her in NICU prior to seeing me and said it looked like she was getting stronger, but not to expect her to be discharged until Tuesday because of the holiday weekend. Granted, he also said that it was up to the neonatologist, not him. Unfortunately, I was getting kicked to the curb that morning. I cried upset by the fact that I was leaving without my precious baby, I think this is every mom's worst fear.
After breakfast we went bro the NICU to check on Charleigh and hopefully speak with the neonatologist.
Thankfully, all of her labs and her kidney ultrasound came back normal. They decided to transition her to an open air bed to allow her to self-regulate her body temperature and told us that if she could maintain it for 24 hours and didn't have any additional problems arise they would let her come home on Saturday.
After I was discharged we went home, ate lunch and showered before heading back for Charleigh's 3'o'clock feed. We fed Charleigh and went home for the night, calling to check on her before we went to bed that evening. Unfortunately, we didn't get much information because, as usual, her night nurse was Nurse S, sigh...
Saturday 5/24 -
Chad and I woke up early to head to the hospital for Charleigh's 9am feed. When we got there she was getting her hearing test, so we didn't get the opportunity to feed her. The nurses said she had maintained her temperature overnight and all was had to do was wait for Dr Rios to come in and make the decision regarding whether or not she would be discharged that day. We ran a few errands and wasted time before heading back around 1230.
Dr Rios said that everything looked good and that he was going to discharge her, but that we needed to monitor her temperature and if it dropped below 98, we needed to bring her back in. With her weight, we were concerned about her needing to do the car seat test before they discharged her. Dr Rios, however, said that since she was an early-term baby she didn't need to do the car seat test. Whew! Bullet dodged. We went through the discharge instructions and were sent on our way.
The entire drive home all we could think was, "Holy Shit! They just let us leave with a baby! Are they crazy?!"
Our life was changed forever that very moment...
After all was said and done, Chad & I spent a little time bonding with Charleigh before allowing our parents back in the room. Once they arrived they were swarming like hawks wanting to hold her. Since it was the ever important skin to skin bonding time, we sent them off to get some dinner for us before they came back to hold her and visit.
Charleigh got her first bath by the awesome Nurse Julie while I rested before eating dinner. After dinner and our parents left we started to settle in for the night. Not long after we turned off the lights Charleigh started screaming and spitting up. She was spitting up so frequently that we were afraid to go to sleep and decided to call the nursery. (Especially since I was unable to get out of bed by myself, etc.). Nurse S came in (using her initials because we didn't like her) and was very condescending towards us, particularly when she discovered that Charleigh's temperature was low. She swept her off to the nursery for observation and we fell fast asleep.
Thursday 5/22 -
After calling the nursery regarding Charleigh, Nurse S came to our room to break the news...Charleigh couldn't maintain a proper body temperature and was continuing to vomit. They admitted her to the NICU while we were sleeping. Nurse S claims that she came to tell us this in the middle of the night, but I find that hard to believe since I woke up every time they took somebody back to the OR. (My room was directly next to the OR).
We waited in our room until we ate breakfast and Dr a Heaps came by to check on us before heading to the NICU. When he found out that she was in the NICU, he decided to keep us another night instead of discharging us as planned. This took a bit of finagling on his part, as L & D was overflowing. Turns out they canceled a few inductions the prior day because there were so many babies born. Thankfully he knows what's he's doing and got that settled for me. Although I was ready to go home and missed the fur babies, I was thankful to be close to my girl.
We called our parents and broke them the news before heading to the NICU. Even when we went to see her, the poor thing was still getting sick, and it broke our hearts. With her being in the NICU, and the fact that all the NICU beds were full, we were allowed to see her only at feeding times. I honestly think this made bonding difficult. There's nothing worse than seeing your baby hooked up to all these monitors and under a warmer. The neonatologist came to talk to us and said she was going to be running lab work and a kidney ultrasound on her to see what was going on. They suspected sepsis (possible infection) and had already diagnosed her with hypothermia and difficulty tolerating feeds. We waited anxiously all day for the reports, and even waited to shower until Chad's parents got there to ensure there was somebody there in the event they came with information.
Friday 5/23 -
Dr Heaps came in early to check on both Charleigh and myself. He had checked on her in NICU prior to seeing me and said it looked like she was getting stronger, but not to expect her to be discharged until Tuesday because of the holiday weekend. Granted, he also said that it was up to the neonatologist, not him. Unfortunately, I was getting kicked to the curb that morning. I cried upset by the fact that I was leaving without my precious baby, I think this is every mom's worst fear.
After breakfast we went bro the NICU to check on Charleigh and hopefully speak with the neonatologist.
Thankfully, all of her labs and her kidney ultrasound came back normal. They decided to transition her to an open air bed to allow her to self-regulate her body temperature and told us that if she could maintain it for 24 hours and didn't have any additional problems arise they would let her come home on Saturday.
After I was discharged we went home, ate lunch and showered before heading back for Charleigh's 3'o'clock feed. We fed Charleigh and went home for the night, calling to check on her before we went to bed that evening. Unfortunately, we didn't get much information because, as usual, her night nurse was Nurse S, sigh...
Saturday 5/24 -
Chad and I woke up early to head to the hospital for Charleigh's 9am feed. When we got there she was getting her hearing test, so we didn't get the opportunity to feed her. The nurses said she had maintained her temperature overnight and all was had to do was wait for Dr Rios to come in and make the decision regarding whether or not she would be discharged that day. We ran a few errands and wasted time before heading back around 1230.
Dr Rios said that everything looked good and that he was going to discharge her, but that we needed to monitor her temperature and if it dropped below 98, we needed to bring her back in. With her weight, we were concerned about her needing to do the car seat test before they discharged her. Dr Rios, however, said that since she was an early-term baby she didn't need to do the car seat test. Whew! Bullet dodged. We went through the discharge instructions and were sent on our way.
The entire drive home all we could think was, "Holy Shit! They just let us leave with a baby! Are they crazy?!"
Our life was changed forever that very moment...
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