My only hospital experience, besides Caroline's birth, was my almost month-long stay prior to Weston's birth. The NICU is much different from the typical experience. For starters, you have almost no privacy. Also, the NICU is LOUD compared to a single hospital room.
I was a patient in the antenatal unit until the night before Weston was born, at which time I became a patient in the perinatal high risk unit for about 5 hours, and for four additional days after his birth. Now, to get to the NICU from the parking garage, I have to walk through the antenatal unit, which I enjoy because I usually run into one of my former nurses. They were great, and I miss them. More on them in a later post. The other day, one of them asked how Weston was doing. This was before I knew about the brain bleed. I said that he was doing well and gaining weight. She said, "Oh, just like you! Oh, oh, I mean the fighter part, not the weight gain part!" Then she was all embarrassed. It was funny. But I DID gain some weight while I was there; after all, I was pregnant.
But, I digress again. The NICU is pretty intimidating the first few times you visit. Shannon went in by himself a couple of times to see Weston before I was physically able to get down there. First, you have to buzz your way in the main door. Inside is a lobby area with a reception desk and a big sign that says, Nursery Intensive Care Unit."
Before I went home, Shannon and I had wristbands that identified us as parents of a NICU patient. Now we have badges that we wear around our necks with our very unflattering pictures on them. Actually, Shannon's picture is pretty cute, because Caroline is in it with him. Most of the people at the reception desk know us and let us right in, but sometimes we have to stop and identify ourselves and sometimes give Weston's four-digit identification number to be let in. Sometimes, they will call back in the unit and say, "Baby Yoder's family is coming." I guess that wakes them up if they are sleeping on the job. Just kidding.
Every NICU has different rules about visitors. In Weston's, direct siblings are allowed, but the staff takes their temperature every time they come in to make sure they are healthy. I don't know if the rules will get even more stringent when flu/RSV season is upon us. Any other children must be over 12. Only two visitors are allowed at a time, but they make an exception for siblings. So Shannon, Caroline, and I can visit together. When Shannon brings his parents, he goes in with one parent at a time, and they have to trade off.
The NICU is basically one giant room divided into pods. There is an open "pathway" through the middle with a big scrub sink near the front where everybody has to wash up to their elbows, even if they are not going to touch a baby. Weston is in pod 9, and I don't know if there are more pods than that. Although the NICU is bright, it is noticeably darker than the lobby/reception area. There is a window in Weston's pod, and his incubator is close to it, so that will be nice for him once his eyes are less sensitive. They only turn on the bright overhead lights for exams. When babies are undergoing phototherapy for jaundice, they wear eye masks. Surgeries, including emergency surgeries, can be done right in the NICU, with some being done in the baby's incubator. The only downside to that is that they close the entire NICU for surgeries. So far, we had to cut a visit short because of another baby having emergency surgery. It's disappointing to have to leave early, but also comforting to know that Weston wouldn't have far to go if he needs surgery.
Most NICUs are divided into three levels (1, 2, and 3, with 3 being for babies who need the most critical care). At St. Joseph's, the Level 2 nursery is next to Level 3, but the Level 1 is called the annex, and it is on the first floor (we are on the fifth floor).
There are four babies in pod 9, all boys, including a set of twins. Babies are in incubators, warming beds, or cribs. Weston is in an incubator and will be for a long time. The pods are not very big, so one cannot help overhearing what is said about other babies. For example, I overheard the nurse practitioner's consult with the baby next to Weston yesterday. Let me stop and say that Weston is BY FAR the smallest baby in the pod, and maybe THE smallest in the entire NICU. I think the other babies in pod 9 were born around 30 weeks, and some of them weigh 4 pounds already, which is huge to me. So this mom next to me yesterday was talking a mile a minute to the NP, and she actually said, "My friend had a baby born at 23 weeks, and the baby died." WTF?! With a baby born at 24 weeks, that is the LAST thing I want to hear. I already know the odds, thank you. I've heard of NICU parents becoming friends with each other, but clearly not everyone is destined for that.
Despite the relative lack of privacy, especially compared to the rest of the hospital, the NICU does a good job of complying with HIPAA (the law requiring privacy with respect to medical conditions, records, etc.). For example, parents are not allowed to put breast milk in the refrigerator because they would see other patients' names. More importantly, they won't let people even LOOK at a baby without the parents' permission. A family friend of Shannon's works at the hospital and had to go to the NICU for something. She saw Weston's incubator and asked about him, but his nurse wouldn't let her see him. Although I wouldn't have minded if this particular person had seen him, it's nice to know the staff is protective of the babies.
Despite the relative chaos of the NICU, with its constant beeping alarms, the nurses display a welcome sense of calm. When Weston's alarm goes off, they calmly walk over and turn it off. Sometimes they'll take a closer look at him, but one of the nurses explained that the alarms are simply a tool that say, "Look at the baby!" when they go off.
So there you have it. Hopefully none of you will ever have to get intimately familiar with any NICU, but now you know everything you have ever needed to know about the NICU at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.
In other news, Weston had a pretty good day today. He is up to 1 lb 8 oz, and they are increasing his feeding amount every 12 hours. By midnight tonight, he will be up to 4 cc's of milk every 4 hours. He had his fourth blood transfusion today and a slight dip in his pH, which required some ventilator adjustment, but it had already corrected itself by the time Shannon got there in the early evening. His head circumference is fine, so that hopefully means the hydrocephalus is not getting worse. The big news for today is that Shannon got to hold Weston for the first time! He held him for a full hour, and Weston didn't have a single brady episode (heart rate dip). He had two with me, but he brought his heart rate back up himself.
Next Tuesday is Weston's next head ultrasound. We are confident that God can heal the brain bleed and hydrocephalus; please keep praying hard.
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