The Pair of Scates: Eight Weeks in the NICU

We've been in the NICU for eight weeks today. The girls' stats:

Hazel - 5 pounds, 2 ounces ... gained 2 pounds, 7 oz since birth

Abigail - 5 pounds, 2 ounces (about 12 grams difference from Hazel) ... gained 2 pounds, 10 oz since birth

Apparently Hazel does not like Mondays. Kim, our nurse today, told me when I walked in that Hazel had several episodes today, some after a feeding, so she and Dr. Breed elevated her head in the crib to see if it was just reflux issues. They also did routine blood work on her and noticed a low white blood cell count plus a relatively low temperature, so they are going to run another set of tests on her tomorrow. I bet she'll love that.

Abby, on the other hand, had a pretty stellar day. She passed her hearing test (third time's the charm!), ate like a champ for Kim, and had no episodes. Abby also had a bath before I got there and Kim said that went smoothly, too.

We worked on breast feeding at both the afternoon assessments. Normally Hazel is scheduled to go first, but Abby seemed more awake, so I worked with her first. Kim gave me some good instructions, and Abby did much better than in the past few days. At the end, we offered her a bottle, which she downed (although the last bit took forever). During our second outing, Abby went a bit longer, but kept falling asleep despite my best efforts.

Hazel, on the other hand, is really good at nursing (although she still sometimes tends to jump in too quickly, get overwhelmed and then hold her breath, thus causing her to brady). We went for a long time in both sessions; during the second one, she bradyed several times, mostly likely because she was tired.

Between breastfeedings, Kim and I gave Hazel a bubble bath in the tub. Hazel alternated between loving it (when she was warm) and hating it (when she was cold). I, of course, captured the moments in film. ;)

Kim the nurse is quite the talker. She has been a nurse in NICU3 several times in the past, so we knew each other, but today was the first time she was assigned to us. Turns out her daughter (who is 14 now) was a NICU baby (for a week) and went home at 3 pounds 8 ounces. It's hard enough finding a car seat now for a baby that small; she said her daughter had to come home in a car bed (I'm not even sure exactly what that is)! She was also telling us about her 14 year old Doberman, Max, who was mauled last week by 3 or 4 pit bulls owned by her neighbor. The dogs are currently quarantined, the vet bill for Max (who lived, mainly because Kim is a nurse) was $1600, and the neighbor agreed to pay the bill but has yet to do so. So I gave her some basic advice to document everything, take pictures of Max (she had already cleaned up the blood from the mauling), and CYA in case she has to take her neighbor to court. Glad I could be somewhat useful to her, and I can't wait to hear the latest developments on Thursday when she is "on" again at NAMC. It was odd, though ... at the same time I felt like a complete novice and she was the expert (breastfeeding), I was talking like a legal expert to a novice in the court system. Interesting dichotomy.

I finally cut off my babies bracelets yesterday, after almost eight weeks of wearing them. I don't even remember when they were put on - Matt says it was right after the girls were born (apparently during one of the "phased out" periods for me). Anyway, I was hoping to keep them on until the girls were discharged ... not only for the symbolism, but because it would be one less thing to keep track of when going back and forth to the NICU every day. I had to cut them off, though, because one was starting to get too tight and rub the skin raw; in fact, I have a nice looking scab on my wrist right now Fortunately, I think all of the unit clerks (Bonnie, Emely, and on Saturday nights, Easter Bunny/can't remember her name) know me, so it is very rare that I even get asked to show the bracelets. In fact, I had a really nice conversation with Bonnie today about various things.

Anyway... pictures for the day. Both Abby and Hazel were especially hilarious today: