NICU Diary Days 71 & 72

Saturday & Sunday, December 16-17, 2000

(Mom’s perspective of our weekend at the hospital hotel)

Too tired to write "Pete's Diary" this evening because we were up all weekend long taking care of Pete!

We had a wonderful weekend with Peter; our first time ever to be alone with him. He did very well, and we had no panic attacks or equipment failures. We just never slept due to all the beeping. At one point his feeding pump, sat monitor, and ventilator were all going off at the same time. I think that was about an hour after the 2:00 a.m. feeding! At least we know what all the beeps are for so I guess that's progress. Oh, and once we got all the machines stabilized and quiet, we had to remember to change his diaper too!

What an adventure it was. Poor little Peter was wondering what the heck was going on when we turned out all of the lights after his 10:00 p.m. feeding. I suppose the lights never go completely dark in the NICU. Peter is so used to all of the beeping machines that he can sleep through just about anything--- except for a diaper change. He loved being out of his crib all day on Saturday. We tried waking him up to cheer for Mizzou, but he didn't want anything to do with that. He was happy to watch Dad yell at the TV. A little taste of what home will be like for him!

The worst part of the weekend was returning him to the NICU. Peter is scheduled for his g-tube surgery tomorrow afternoon, so he will definitely be out of it for most of this week.

We didn't have good news on Friday regarding home nursing care either. There are no nurses available through the three agencies our insurance company works with until at least January. The staffing they have available in January will only be available a couple days per week and no midnight shifts. The hospital is requesting 16 hours of care per day for the first few weeks and at least 8 hours per day thereafter. Anything less, they said would be considered an "unsafe" discharge.

At least we survived the weekend and know it's possible for us to take care of him. Peter overall is doing very well and is continuing to grow. He is almost out of his preemie clothes and weighed in at 6 pounds 1 ounce on Friday night.

Thanks to all who were thinking of us this weekend. We really appreciate the support.

Love,

Dede and the boys

P.S. For those concerned, Divot had a wonderful stay at "Club Pet."