NICU Day 84 ~ (February 29th)

Noelle had a good day today, all things considered.  She is up to her full feeding amount again and seems to be tolerating it well so far.  Today was basically a resting/growing day, and we are thankful to have an uneventful day after the events of the past couple of weeks.  A lot of people have wondered what I do all day...if I just sit by her bedside at the hospital, if I have things to keep me busy or if I get bored, and the answer is really none of the above.  Each day is different and often I plan my schedule for the day, only to have it completely changed around depending on what specifically is going on with Noelle; but in this post, I will give a little bit of an idea of what one of my days might look like.

The day mainly revolves around the pumping schedule which is every 2-3 hours, even through the night.  It's important to keep up with this so that we can provide the best nutrition possible for Noelle in order for her to grow.  Many days I am at the hospital around 9:00 or so for morning rounds.  This is when the medical team reviews Noelle's current status and goes over the care plan for the day.  A lot of things are discussed during this time, and it is the best time for us to be updated on everything that concerns her.  We have learned a lot through 3 months of rounds and developed relationships with much of her care team.  Rounds can happen anytime between 9:00 and noon, so I'm usually there for at least a few hours.  Of course the pumping schedule continues there but in between and around that, I am usually spending time with Noelle in the form of helping with her vital signs, changing her diapers, feeding her a bottle or nursing her, or holding her (usually Kanga Care ~ skin to skin).  I try to head home in the early afternoon to take care of things there such as bills, laundry, or cleaning or I run necessary errands.  Often Tom will then pick me up on his way to the hospital after work, and we will spend the evening with her, participating in many of the same things which I did in the morning.  Honestly, that is an "ideal" day, and one of those has not happened in a while.  I had planned a day like that yesterday, but then one thing after another kept happening which prevented me from going home, and so I was at the hospital all the way through the day until we left that night.  A lot of days end up like that especially when something is going on with her and they are running any kind of test.  So honestly, rarely do I get moments to just sit by her bedside and catch up on something.  It happens from time to time, and I do have things with me "just in case" but the majority of the time, I am busy in some way; and the older she has gotten the more I have been able to do with her and for her.  The nurses are really fantastic about involving us parents as much as possible and teaching us how to do so many things for her that it really makes us feel like parents even though we live life in the NICU right now.   Thank you for praying for Noelle and also for us as a family.  It's certainly trying some days as we feel like we are constantly trying to settle into a new "normal" that just will not stay consistent enough in order to really adjust; but we would not trade one moment with our precious little girl for any of that.  FOX 8 ran an update story on her tonight and will follow up again when she finally gets to come home.  Below is the link if you would like to see it.  (One correction to the story....we were originally being seen at Women's Hospital/Moses Cone for our pregnancy, but we switched our care shortly before she was born, and Noelle was born at Forsyth and has been cared for in the NICU there her entire life except for the one week she was at Baptist/Brenner's for her eye surgery.  We cannot say enough about our Forsyth family and are grateful each day that we are there).  I hope we can report another "boring" day tomorrow!!

http://myfox8.com/2012/02/29/buckley-report-baby-noelle-update/