1/16/11 - in the last post we had updated till I fell asleep. Travis and Mom arrived at 3:52am and came in. We had been given a very hot but private room for NICU parents to use when needed. It has a pull out chair and pull out couch (not super comfy but a spot to sleep is a spot to sleep) with a very noisy fridge. I showed mom where she could sit and rest while I took Travis back to see Aedan. I am not sure how he lasted the drive...I know I would have freaked to be away from him (and not have anything I could do about it) for that long. I introduced him to our night nurse, Lyn, a wonderful English lady who listened and guided us through the first two nights in NICU. She showed us where to go to get water, juice, ice, milk, and crackers should we need a snack between meals or during that first night. I then took mom to the back and Travis laid down and slept. Mom had her chance to see him for the first time since he was minutes old. She learned the check in process and even got to touch him for the second time ever. At 5:30am, her and I fell asleep. We both woke at 7am (the unit closes from 7-7:30 for shift change twice daily), and went down to see what and if we could get breakfast and to try and find pain meds for me (we did not think and have someone bring Motrin). When we got back Travis was awake. At this point we went in and visited Aedan and found out how the last few hours had gone. We meet our new nurse, Cindy, who was a wonderful guide and friend for the day. He had rested and slept through most of the morning because he is still trying become healthy. We checked into the Ronald McDonald House. It is beautiful and they take great care of us here. I ask that everyone start saving the pop tops of metal cans and sending them to me and my mom. We will recycle them and give the money to Ronald McDonald to help run the houses for families! This is so important now that we have seen what this organization does!!! Tom and Cathy (Travis parents, for those who don't know them) came to visit and see Aedan. It was great to see them as Travis and I had not seen them since Christmas (not that long ago but still great to see them). They stayed till 2pm (Travis' sister Neave also came up but since only parents and grandparents can see him she stayed a few minutes and looked at pictures and walked out with Tom and Cathy). Travis and I took a few more moments to go check in with the nurse then we decided it was time for us to eat a real meal (we went to Black Eyed Pea because we knew where it was), get a shower, and go to bed. Travis was the first asleep as mom and I finished unpacking, but we soon realized that I need to go pump before sleeping so we went back to the hospital and met with the night nurse (Lyn was back for one more night). Mom and I were asleep by 9pm.
1/17/11 - Monday, Monday. All during this day I had to remind myself, my mom, and Travis that is was a holiday! We seemed to miss the memo since we were not doing our usual routine. We got up and went to the hospital by 9am. We visited Aedan and found out how his night was. At one point we met with Dr Hemmington (another of the Neonatologists) and she said that she, Dr Horst, and Dr Ross (who we had yet to meet) were the team of Doctors for Aedan's care. It is great to know we have three primary doctors in the large group of 12 total neonatologists cover the department. Dr Hemmington told us they had discussed and they were treating him for menigitis (even though all the blood so far had come back negative) and pneumonia. They had just stopped giving him one of the antibiotics, they would wait till Wednesday and drop the gentimycin, and then he would be only on the long term drug. They had varying opinions on how long he needed to take this medicine. They finally reached a decision of 2 weeks. They decided this way they knew that if any meningitis did exist it would be treated. We asked her how long into the 2 weeks we were and she told us that they needed to wait till the final reading of cultures came on Wednesday but they would say we should be off that medicine on the 31st, if not before. When she said that we knew that meant we would be at P/SL till then. We spend that day going in and out seeing Aedan. We had decided since he is sleeping it is best for us to not be sitting by his side all the time. He will have a very active day and we will not want to leave. He will have a bad day and we will not want to leave. It is best that we let him sleep when he needs to, as the more he sleeps the sooner he starts to feel better. This theory worked!!!! At 2pm, they started tube feeding 5ml at a time. At 5pm, we again fed him. At 8pm, we went for feeding (mom and I) and he was wide awake. I was so glad mom has that wonderful camera with video (see post of videos) so we managed to get many many. Mom finally realized that Travis should come back and went and changed spots with him. He was excited to see him awake and moving (not that he stayed that way for much longer but still any movement is progress). We then went back to our room at RMH and slept till morning!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment