From NICU nurse to NICU mom

First let me apologize- I am long winded when I tell my story...so bear with me and hope it isn't drawn out too long...there is just a lot that has happened the last few days and this blog is a sort of way for me to process it!

This title can be a little deceiving. Yes Brooklynn ended up in the NICU but she only was there for 3 days...it could have been a lot worse and I feel for the moms now who's kids are in there much longer.

We will start our story where we left off...sort of. While they were doing their stuff to Brooklynn in the c-section room they told me how much she weighed...8 pounds 6 ounces - smaller than her ultrasound predicted but still pretty darn big for a 36 weeker. They said her apgars were 7 and 8 (GOOD thank you lord!). After she was whisked away to the NICU, Sam and I sat there anxiously awaiting me to be done having my insides put back together :). When they were done they wheeled me in to recovery. Dr. Hertenstein called and talked to Sam to update him a little but we did not know exactly what was going on at this point. Poor Sam - I could tell her was torn as was I - he wanted to be with me, we wanted to see how Brooklynn was doing, and we knew our family was anxiously awaiting to find out how everything went! They had been in the waiting room the whole time this fiasco was going on. So when I was in recovery I told Sam - first go check on Brooklynn, come back tell me how she is, and than go tell our family. Poor guy - on his way to check on Brooklynn he ran into my family - what was he to do? My sisters said he was just standing there trying to figure out if he tells them what is happening or checking on Brooklynn first. When he came back to see me he said she was doing okay but could not see her cause they were doing procedures. In my head, as a NICU nurse I am thinking - what sort of procedures??? That could mean ANYTHING. He went off to update the family while I sat in recovery.

While in recovery and Sam was with the family, a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (Patty Lanzer) who I work with at Children's stopped by to update me on Brooklynn. They needed to give her oxygen at first but by the time they got to the NICU she was breathing and keeping her saturations up on her own - she was just breathing a little harder and faster than they liked. She had a chest x-ray which showed some fluid, but this is common in a c-section baby. They wanted to start her on antibiotics since I had been ruptured for 10 hours. They drew blood cultures and CBC and BMP - these looked reassuring that there was no infection as of yet but they wanted to be sure. She had a HUGE Caput (or conehead) that they were concerned about - hey pushing for 2 1/2 hours and being stuck in my pelvis can do that to a girl. I do have to say she did look a little like Alien with how far back her head was coned! They said they were just going to keep an eye on that. Her first blood sugar was 50, which was the highest of the low, so they had to watch that as well and started her on D10 IV fluids to help maintain her blood sugars, but she was not going to be allowed to eat at this time. And I finally learned her length - 22 inches long!!!! GEEZ no wonder why she weighed what she did!

Sam and I had to wait about 5 hours before we could go back and see Brooklynn - between them taking care of me, my epidural not wearing off, and other things. So finally we headed back to the NICU. In an isolette laid my little baby girl!! She looked SOO big in the isolette, but still so little!! She has long lean limbs with a big head -b ut everything is very proportionate. I got to touch her for the first time, but I did not get to hold her. She was worn out and had SO much done to her that day that I wanted her to rest. Sam and I went back to my room and we rested that night - I wanted to see her but I was just SOOO exhausted. I will now be a little more understanding of mom's who don't see their babies right away! Labor is hard work... I also feel for the moms who are stuck in a different hospital than their children - I was lucky and they were able to keep Brooklynn at the same hospital as I delivered since NKCH has a higher level nursery than they had with Isabella.

The next day - I FINALLY got to breastfeed her and hold her! It was so amazing to have my little girl in my arms! Her bilirubin was high (7.4 after only 17 hours) so she was started on phototherapy so I only got to her hold her for feedings and than had to put her back. The doctor said that they were a little concerned because the night before she was really sluggish and with her head they were wondering if something was going on. Thankfully she started waking up and being more vigorous, so the thoughts of a brain bleed went out the window!! Slowly things got a little better as the day went on, and Brooklynn was taking off on breastfeeding. She was able to have her IV fluids turned off at midnight, but they still had to watch her blood sugars to make sure they did not drop out. Luckily my milk started coming in and I was able to purely breastfeed her.

She was in the NICU from Saturday until Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday, I was able to take Brooklynn in my room - thank you Dr. Saunders for allowing me one more day to recover and be able to room in with my child. We purely breastfed and she maintained her blood sugars. Her bilirubin remained low and she ate well, so we were able to be sent home on Wednesday with no equipment and no check up until a week later!! She was discharged with a 9% weight loss at 7 pounds 10 ounces. Everything turned out to be excellent and we got home and had a wonderful time watching big sister Isabella FINALLY be able to see her little sister!! She was so excited and now all she has wanted to do is hold her and love on her! We are going to have to watch her- she is probably going to try dragging Brooklynn out of anything she is in just so she can hold her! We are just glad everything ended up okay and we can be a family with healthy girls!! Life will be a huge adjustment with two but it is going to make it so much better!! I promise I will post a blog of all pictures here shortly - we just have to download them onto the computer!

Sorry again for the LONG story!!