One thing that can be said of NICUs is that it is often a noisy place.
There are numerous machines with numerous alarms... per child.
After 6 weeks, Matt and I know exactly what each alarm means. Is the feeding tube pump finished or is the child's heart rate or saturation dangerously low? We can tell immediately. It has gotten so bad that we hear alarms even when we aren't in the hospital (or is that just my psychosis kicking in? :) )
But over the last few days it has grown strangely quiet in our corner of the NICU.
It used to be that if one of the saturation or heart rate alarms sounded... it was one of our children. Now? Chances are that it is another child over the half-wall that separates our corner from the rest of the back room. What a relief! (I am aware that may sound a bit callous since it means someone else's child is alarming)
Don't get me wrong... when the serious alarms sound, I automatically scan the machines attached to our three rugrats just to be sure. It has become habit. But more often than not they are behaving themselves.
This change of events was strangely disconcerting for the first 24 hours. I wondered at times if the monitors were plugged in correctly :-). Now I revel in the fact that our kids are outgrowing the A's and B's of prematurity.
Speaking of the kids... they are all growing well. Isaac is stable again and as long as he remains infection-free (fingers crossed!) he should just continue to improve. I have been able to kangaroo with him the last few days which makes for a very happy mother. Parker and Emery are on autopilot. They are sporting their preemie clothes and at least Parker technically could be moved to a crib anyday because he is controlling his temperature without a problem. They are all now over 4 lbs! We anticipate they will be moved to the Level 2 NICU much closer to our home sometime soon (pending available beds). We have had a couple good days in a row now... dare I say "momentum"?
Matt and I with Emery (please excuse my bad "bang day")
Another picture of Isaac will be forthcoming... I am hoping to get a good one of him with his eyes open today.
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4 comments:
How great... I can't wait to see a picture of all of you together. Sounds like it won't be long.
Parker and Emery look like twins!!
Awesome! Keep it up, kids!
I don't see what's wrong with your bangs, by the way. (All I see is two upside down Vs for victory..... or is it an upside down W for winner?)
Natalie gave us your blog address and I just wanted to pop on and say hi. My husband, Jeff, knew Natalie (and I think your husband) in Vegas. We also have triplets but our girls are already 4 1/2.
I spent the weekend reading most of your blog. I love the way you inject humor into your experience. Congratulations - your life will be forever changed - children are a wonderful, crazy blessing.
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