Last night we had the opportunity to "room in" with Ryan. This means that Thomas and I spent the night at the NICU and took care of him ourselves. There are specific rooms for this that contain a microwave, mini fridge and a pull out couch/bed for 2. There is still an assigned nurse for the baby, but the parents are in charge for the night. If the parents have questions or need help, the nurse will be right there to assist them. It's almost like a trial run before you actually take the baby home. Since Ryan is so close to coming home we jumped at the opportunity to room in for a night and test the waters! Everything went just fine! We are tired (of course) but made it through the night with no issues or concerns. We took turns with his overnight feedings. It's hard to sleep in the hospital since the bed isn't comfortable and in our case last night, Ryan's leads weren't on or working correctly or something because his monitor kept going off saying that his heart wasn't beating, which was clearly not the case. We could have done without the sporadic beeping! All in all, we felt good about it and are looking forward to when he can come home!
On that note, it looks like tomorrow is the big day! Ryan had an MRI today to get a better look at his brain (follow up from cranial ultrasounds showing brain bleeding) so the doctors can get a more conclusive idea of what's going on. I got to go in the room with him and was definitely more upset than he was. Thankfully, he is such a laid back little guy that it really didn't bother him. He got swaddled in to this vacuum sealer thingy to keep him from moving and took his paci and was totally fine! I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck and was so worried that he would open his eyes and get scared. It lasted all of about 15 minutes but it felt like an hour that we were in there. We did not get the results back today but should hear something tomorrow. In addition to his MRI, Ryan took a car seat test this afternoon but did not pass. The monitors were indicating that he was having some issues, but his nurse assured us that he did not appear to have any problems at all! His coloring was good, his breathing appeared good and he was calm. It's those darn leads, I tell ya! Anyway, his nurse felt like it was definitely an error with the monitor/leads and said he would retake his test either tonight or tomorrow. We all think he will pass once his leads are changed out and are accurate. Assuming he passes his next car seat test, he will be moving home!
I am so proud of my sweet boy and want to have him home with us, but truth be told, I am really nervous! The whole time I've been a mom I've had nurses around to help do whatever needs to be done. They answer my questions, calm my fears, give me advice, assess the babies and essentially take complete care of them. When I'm at the NICU we will tag team, as in "you get William's diaper and I'll get Stokes and Ryan's" so we share the load of work. If a baby is crying and I don't know what to do, I look to the nurse for my instructions. Our nurses have been wonderful and have taken such good care of our triplets and I wish I could bring them home with us! I keep worrying that I won't be able to do it, to keep up, to take care of these little guys, especially when all 3 babies are at home. The anticipation is killing me because I am such a worrier. I keep reminding myself that I will do it because that's just what has to happen. I will figure it out. I certainly don't have all the answers right now and honestly have no clue as to what it will actually be like (how can you until you actually bring your baby/babies home?!?!).
This post has been all about Ryan, but just to let you know, Stokes and William are doing great, too. Their nurse practitioner told me today she thinks they each have about another week before they're ready to come home. They are not far behind! Their only hold up right now is bottle feeding. Stokes has moved to every other feed from a bottle and William is getting 3 bottle feedings per day. They got moved to the hallway with the rooming in rooms yesterday as well so we're all getting used to a new and slightly different environment in the NICU.
I will update tomorrow with MRI results and in regards to whether Ryan gets to come home. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment