Good Morning! I am now home again. I was released yesterday and actually left the hospital at 5:45pm. Wow was it difficult to climb up into the car! Not to mention how difficult it was to be leaving the hospital without a baby in my arms. I think I did good though - I only teared up once during the trip downstairs to the car, although I did lose it for a bit in the car.
Once we were all settled in the Odyssey, we headed straight for Golda at LIJ. Smartly, Jon had put Dad's wheelchair in the car so he wheeled me through the hospital to see my little girl. I have no idea why, but she too is right near the door to her NICU room (I think it's kinda weird that all three are near the doors to their NICU rooms). She is incredibly tiny, but I think she is beautiful already. Her scars weren't as bad as I was anticipating, but they do take up a good portion of her tiny little belly. Her Broviac central line is covered by a little square of gauze, fully taped down. Her stomach drain is a little upsetting to see since it is apparent that it comes straight out of her skin, but all in all not too bad. She is, like her sister and brother, very fiesty! The nurse taking care of her said that she will grab that drain any chance she gets (and we saw it last night too) and try to pull it out! They have a piece of cloth they velcro over her belly to keep her from reaching it.
Once I scrubbed up I reached in and held her hand and told her I was her mommy. She jumped a little at the sound of my voice and tightened her hand! Can I tell you how good that made me feel??? Then Jon put his hands in from the other side and held her other hand and had his other hand on her chest and belly. I told her she was so lucky to have both mommy and daddy here now and she squeezed tighter again. I was so happy and relieved that she obviously remembered my voice since she hasn't seen me for four days. The nurse was very nice and actually let me change her little diaper. To let you know how much seeing all three of my babies in one day affected me, when we finally made it home and I pumped, I produced twice the amount I had that morning!
Before we left North Shore, Harry got to attend the Siblings class and meet his brother and sister, who by the way are now in the same room together. On a side note, for all those who were wondering, I asked the nurse the other day what the difference between rooms A and H was and why my babies were in separate rooms. She explained that while they are both level III NICU rooms, room A offers "intense" care while h offers "intermediate" care. Micah is in H while Leah was in A. She was only put in there because they had one spot in each room and since she was smaller, they put her in the intense room. But a spot opened in H and she moved over. Okay, back to Harry. He was incredibly happy and excited to finally meet Leah and Micah. He had his temperature checked and looked at photos of what to expect inside the NICU, then scrubbed his hands to the elbows with Daddy's help (not the slightest complaint about washing his hands!). We then went into the room and I introduced him to Micah. He got this amazing grin on his face and said Hi Alvin! He asked lots of questions about what he was seeing and Jon and I explained what every tube and wire did and showed him where the monitors were and what the normal values were. He took it all in and enjoyed looking up at the monitors to assess how well they were doing. After a few minutes with Micah, he headed over to Leah's isolette and met her. He was equally happy to see her and, as he did with Micah, he asked us to open the little door so he could talk to her. He really showed that he will be a great big brother to these little ones! Tonight, LIJ will be having their class so he will get to meet his other sister, Golda. Jon took some nice photos of Leah and Micah and will try to get one of Golda today, then we will post all three.
I called this morning to see how they are all doing and received great reports. Golda had a quiet night. She received platelets (left over issue from the surgery combined with prematurity) and is still on room air with her CPAP at a pressure of 5 cm H2O. Her bilirubin counts went up a little so she was back on the UV light with her shades on yesterday. She is also receiving prophylatic antobiotics for five days from the surgery so that should be ending soon. Leah also had a quiet night. She too is on room air with her CPAP at a pressure of 5 cm H2O and is under the UV light with her isolette covered in aluminum foil (it looks like she will make a tasty duck!). She tolerated her feeds of 3ml of breast milk through the night, but she needed the full three hours to digest it (if they tried to do a feed a little early, there was still some food left undigested). They will discuss whether to increase her feeds to 4ml at rounds this morning. She now weighs 1220g (2 lbs 11.03 oz - down from her birth weight of 3 lbs 2 oz). Micah had a good but eventful night. He tolerated his feeds all night and is now up to 4ml every three hours. He weighs 1660g (3 lbs 10.55 oz - a few grams below his birth weight). He too is on the UV lights. The happening that made his night eventful: the bridge of his little nosie was becoming irritated so they (trumpet sound please) removed his CPAP and are trialling him off it!!! They had already changed his CPAP from a nasal prong tube to the triangle shaped mask because the septum of his nose was getting too irriated, so the next step was removing it. From the way the nurse said it, I think they expect him to fail the trial since he is only five days old and need some assistance, but most likely that will be a nasal canula (the thing they put on adults to give them oxygen). How awesome is that! I can't wait to go today and see his whole little face!
All in all our little ones are doing really well for 32 weekers, especially for 32 weekers needing surgery! So, whatever good vibes and thoughts you are all sending our way, keep them coming!
I am feeling exhausted and very crampy. It was quite difficult to make it up the stairs last night and to get comfortable in bed. Jon helped me with both, plus got me up and back down again in the middle of the night when I got up to use the bathroom and to pump. What a trooper - he didn't even complain about it! I will be seeing my doctor on Thursday to have the staples removed, then next week for a wound check. My six week post-partum is also scheduled already for four weeks after the wound check. I will be re-tested for glucose intolerance once I stop breastfeeding since that can cause irregular readings.
I am going to take it easy for a bit this morning, then we will head out to buy a couple of nursing bras. This afternoon Dad will take me to the hospital to see Leah and Micah, then Jon will bring Harry and pick me up. We will head over to the Sibling class at LIJ so Harry can meet Golda.
That's it for now! I will try to keep you posted.
No comments:
Post a Comment