Our Visit to the NICU
Today was a special day; we visited the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or NICU at Abington General Hospital for the first time since the girls were discharged. Bailey and Beau were in the NICU for four weeks and Brook for five weeks. They actually came home in birth order, Bailey, then Beau and then Brook.
Once the girls were stable and big enough, the nurses started putting them in baby clothes and usually it was full term clothes along with some newborn sizes sprinkled in. For the girls and every other preemie, these clothes were entirely too big. It's weird, although I knew they were going to be born at 32 weeks, in my head and I guess in my heart I was thinking the girls would all be at least 4 pounds and the thought of dressing them while they were in the hospital never dawned on me.
On top of everything else I'm concerned about, between visiting my babies, recovering from a C-section, tending to Kanon, pumping, trying to maintain some sanity, add to all that, making sure the babies had outfits that fit them. That quickly became a priority.
When the girls became Insta-famous and after the Huffington post article, Carter's reached out and wanted to send the kids some stuff, Kanon included. Clothes are great and always much appreciated! It was important to me to let them know that we were donating the girls preemie clothes and I asked if they wanted to contribute anything. Carter's so graciously donated 40 units of clothes for the NICU. They totally came through!
Today's weather was kind of crappy, rainy and cold, but we were determined to get there and drop off these goodies. We were welcomed with a warm reception as expected. What I wasn't expecting was all of the sentiments and memories of not only the car ride to the hospital, but walking through those doors, seeing the receptionist Barb, walking past the handwashing station all brought back a flood of emotions, back to a time when I was super fragile and concerned about the girls and how things would be once I brought them home.
We met with a few nurses and the nurse practitioner and it's true, time does fly when you're in the throes of your own schedule and daily routine.
It felt great to update everyone and answer any questions that they had. Bailey was showing off her fancy feet and vocal skills, Beau was pretty laid back and Brook was a total ham!
After visiting with the NICU, we went to the Fetal Monitoring Offices. They weren't expecting us, so I'm glad were were able to see as many people as we did. Seeing those nurses every day from week 26 to 32, every day them trying to find each of my babies, was a little challenging. The nurses were always caring during my appointments, I trusted them and their professionalism. They were so gracious and went and got Dr. Smith. He'll forever have a place in my heart! Always so calm and informative. We talked about the girls and all the milestones they have met since he last saw them. By this time they were super tired and were holding on by threads. I did manage however to get them out of their car seats and they were able to squeeze out some smiles for me! I believe and everyone would agree, the girls made that rainy Friday afternoon just a little brighter.
I don't know what it is, but I loved this hospital food at Abington General, so after our visit we headed to the cafeteria for some soup, salads and nourishment lol.
The next time we'll see the NICU family will be at the end of April for the March of Dimes and NICU Reunion. We can't wait!!!
~ Truly Karae
Nurse Practioner Moria with Brook , from the NICU
Dr. Smith at the Fetal Monitoring Dept. Love him!!
““You’re actually having Triplets, not Twins,”
~ Dr. Smith”
Baby A, Bailey holding tight to Dr. Smith
