Ok, I will list some of the points I remember:
- no co-sleeping twins
- would not allow padded cover for isolettes because the nurses wouldn't be able to see the baby FROM THE NURSE'S STATION!
- left the sunlight and bright overhead lights on them constantly, even after repeated requests from parents for dim lights so they won't squint
- ventilation system old and unable to maintain constant temp, so when they were in open cribs, one day was 65 degrees, the next 80. For premature infants who were learning how to control their body temperature, this is a major setback
- wouldn't keep Chloe in a "snuggle" cushion that was the only way she would sleep and therefore develop because of "nursing" preference
- Chloe's first apneic spell, I was not called and the septic work-up was just initiated
- Nurse smelling of smoke at their bedside, handing the premature babies
- lack of communication about milk supply in the fridge on SEVERAL occasions
- lack of sign out from one nurse to the other, wouldn't follow doctors orders (that we had discussed and it was what I wanted followed)
- misinformation or attitude from select nurses
- no drinkable water (because of past scare of legionnaire's disease), but no access to bottled water on the floor
- babies were separated physically so that I could not "kangaroo" them together or sit at one bedside
- no permanent rockers/comfortable chairs at the bedside for the mom's to hold the babies, pump, breast feed, nap, etc, I had to drag one over every day (no sympathy for mom's recovering from 3 months of bed rest and c-section in a wheelchair!!)
- HUGE controversy about allowing me to have a breast pump bedside for my every 2 hour pumping sessions. I would have to wheel myself to the main NICU in a different hospital on a different floor far removed from my babies
- Then to top everything off, finding Nate with his NG tube taped to his lip and his lip pulled up occluding his right nostril and Chloe same same many times after it was reported to the charge nurse, the risk management team and the Chair of Neoonatology. Then I found Nate lying in a pool of his own dried vomit (dried on lips, cheek, shirt and bed), for AT LEAST 6 hours before I got to him.
I hate to rehash the negatives, because I have 2 happy, healthy, thriving, perfect babies now...but I am just trying to capture the temperature of the moment for everyone to know what we went through. So, please forgive the counterproductivity of that last bit!!! Fortunately, as the head of Neonatology and head of risk management said in my meeting with them over this overt nursing negligence, "no permanent damage was done!!!" Oh, and for anyone wanting to document these hospital mishaps with photographs, just know that their opinion of that is that it is a "confrontational" move, not patient advocation for patients who can't speak for themselves through proper, indisputable documentation.
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ReplyDeleteYou peed in cups and sat and waited. You peed in more cups and sat and waited. They drew blood. They drew more blood. They showed us charts of genetic outcomes and pyramids and god knows what, at the time I took notes an actually knew what all the tests were and what order they would come in, but now I look back and all I remember is a bunch of hieroglyphics.
ReplyDeleteWe calculated your salary once disability would kick in on the day they told you had to cut back on your hours. We calculated it again when they proclaimed you were on bed rest.
We contemplated what to do with Bailey when you made the decision to go to your parents' place on Pheasant Hill in Westwood. Chris and I wanted to take him, but we already had three. . . . .
Jan heroically flew to town in time to help you pack 5 suitcases or so and to escort you on your flight to Boston.
I picked you up at the crack of dawn in the dog-mobile and I placed clean dog towels over the seats so that you wouldn't get all hairy and look like Sasquatch on the plane.
Poor Bailey, he was crammed in the back with all the luggage.
I dropped your mom and you off at the Sunport and drove away and my heart sunk. Selfishly, I knew how much I was going to miss you.
When things didn't work out in Beantown, I begged you to come home to ABQ, but it didn't feel right so on to NYC you went. And, Bailey, too. But it was too much for him once you were put on bed rest.
If I recall, Bailey moved to Long Island and then on to Florida and finally to Camp in Los Lunas, after I picked him up in Tampa many months later . . .
At first we talked a lot, but as you settled in and began nesting, and going out of your mind, we talked less. You were stuck inside. You hate that. It is impossible for you to be inside all day and all night.
One day you called to tell me that you had an outing--to the restaurant one doorway down from the apartment. You were at your wits end.
You shopped. Oh yeah, and I forgot to pick up the plant that I said I would. But Jessica moved in and watered it (I think . . .).
I know you shopped because when you finally made it home, you had way more than the original 5 or 6 suitcases--I think you had about 13. Seriously. Plus boxes.
"The internet," you said when you saw the surprised look on my face.
Chloe and Nate were so small. I was terrified. You and Brian handled them like pros. I held Nate, but Chloe looked like a beautiful but fragile China doll. I was too scared to hold her. She had tiny bows in her hair.
Actually, she was pretty hairless at the time.
You were exhausted. The house was so serene.
Oh yeah, did I mention that your pre-birth melons grew even more--they became melons plus plus extreme.
You texted and told me that you were w a Double F. I didn't know such a thing existed. You assured me it was not fun.
Nate and Chloe grew and grew and grew.
I started thinking of you as a triathlon champ: you fed, pumped and slept (when you could).
It is far more accurate to say that you fed, pumped and changed diapers.
That's what you did around the clock. Day in and day out.
And that's all I have for now. My fingers are tire.
You are an amazing mother and friend. xotash