Many of you enjoyed our article about our new little girl and I thought I should give you a little update…..
We are still in NICU, we will be here for a while. We are starting to go back and forth between here & there, it is hard, but it will work out. She’s gonna need a little patchwork, but she should be fine….eventually. I have made some observances the last week, I thought it would be fun to share……
10. NICU nurses are heroes. Straight up heroes.
9. Residents are students, and you can’t expect them to act like full fledged doctors. You may have to remind them that your child is not just a school project, depending on how you word it – they will rise to your expectations.
8. Good medical insurance is worth every penny. We have more insurance than we thought we needed, there were times we thought that might not be the best use of the money that came in. (this is not a debate or a political statement, I’m just saying we have a HUGE weight lifted off our shoulders by buying the ‘bigger’ plan).
7. I will never look at McDonalds the same way again. The Ronald McDonald House is a blessing you don’t quite understand until you need it. We were away from home for a week, we would have had to sleep at the hospital or pay for a hotel. The CHEAPEST hotel would have been about $60 a night – easy. Food out would have been outrageous too. RMH offers us a comfortable room and a kitchen to make your own food. Several businesses come in to make lunch or dinner at no cost several times a week. A very sweet little old lady brought in dozens of homemade teddy bears for every child staying at the RMH. We aren’t hurting financially, but we didn’t really have the $700 (+/-) we could have spent this last week on food and hotels – and it is more than just the money; it provides a little feeling of normalcy when nothing is really normal.
6. Everyone will forgive you of slip ups while your kid is in NICU…. except your jeans. My ‘goal jeans’ have been threatening to leave me for about 6 months. They finally gave up. Sitting in NICU and eatting comfort food is not the best choice for keeping yourself in shape. I’m hoping they’ll take me back eventually – but for now we aren’t speaking.
5. We have some doctors that are legends in their field. Like worldwide legends. That is awesome. Curiously enough, if you are a legend in your field, your bedside manner doesn’t seem to factor in at all. That’s been hard for me.
4. You will get a lot of unsolicted advice when you have a fresh new ‘medically fragile’ child. You will get even more requests for advice from someone anticipating such a journey. It is ok to ask people to stop, they’ll understand.
3. A very wise friend of mine said that as we get all kinds of tests and ‘what ifs’ to treat it like a ‘weather forecast’ rather than a ‘news cast’ – it’s only a ‘maybe’ and probably the worst case scenario. That has helped us sleep some nights.
2. If you name your kid something unusual you need to know the NICU nurses will laugh about it after you leave. I was very glad to hear my child’s ‘normal’ name met their approval. I’m not saying it is right, I’m just stating a fact.
1. It’s trite, but I truly never appreciated the blessing of healthy kids until I had a less than healthy one. Hug your healthy, stable kids.
Email:
You are one of a kind, Kate. I have to say I am honored to have met you. We haven’t needed the wonderful care at the Ronald McDonald House, but we know it is an amazing place to heal.
Congratulations and I wish you health and happiness!
*blushes* thank you on all counts!
This article rings very true for me as well! We stayed at the Ronald McDonald house too, it was such a great place. Allowed me to be there for every feeding, even in the middle of the night and then just back across the street to pump and eat…seems like it was just yesterday. Hang in there!
it really is so great!
You and H are amazing. As a momma who had 10 days in the NICU with my older, I can understand the stress, fear, uncertainty and nervous apprehension every time you see a doctor walk in the door, whether he’s there for you or not. But I also know how wonderful those nurses truly are and what fantastic overwhelming joy it is to be discharged. I have great faith that all will be as it should in the end! And, look at it this way, at least you don’t have all those wonderful postpartum hormones raging! haha!
ah shucks – thanks! we are only ok
– it is true everytime someone comes in we are so worried like ‘what’s next?!’ – thank you for all your support – we are so thankful!
I loved reading this post and had no idea until I read it that you adopted a new little girl! Your original post about Charlotte had me in tears….so beautiful. I will be thinking all good things for you and please let me know if you want some baby girl clothes…I have a 10 month old so they aren’t too dated!
Kathy! thanks – it has been a whirlwind month for sure! She is an amazing blessing!
we’ve got clothes borrowed for up to about 6 months actually, but I know we will need more – I’d LOVE that! When we get settled we’d love to get the girls together =)
As you know, my 4 youngest were Nicu babies, and i completely understand and have been there.
Though we didn’t stay at the RMH because I was blessed enough to have been given a room in the children’s ward for the 1-3rd weeks (varying with each of the 4) granted it was because my babies were not expected to make it through and they wanted me close enough to rush downstairs. My husband would go home with the other kids at night. As time went by it got a little easier to be able to go home for the nights; sorry for the ramble lol.’
But I have been a volunteer and had many friends stay at the RMH, it truly IS a blessing
Sending your Family love & prayers everyday
it really is great – thank you so much for volunteering too!
Congrats on your new baby girl…My little girl was 9 weeks early and spent 6 weeks in the NICU at Tri-City hospital. Oh how I wished they had a RMH!! It was so tough going back and forth from Temecula with my tiny little baby in the hospital. We were lucky enough for some friends that lived close to the hospital to offer us their guest house for an entire month, but the first 2 weeks until we stayed there was so hard. My Chasey is happy and healthy now…she just needed time to grow before she came home.
I STILL send a Christmas card to the Tri-City NICU every year! I’m sure they don’t remember us because we were just one family out of the hundreds or thousands that they see every year….but I will ALWAYS remember them! They are the reason my Chasey is here with us and happy and healthy!
I felt lost during those 6 weeks so I read and read and read about preemies! I didn’t know what else to do. I learned a ton and it helped me get through that first year with all the medications and an apnea monitor attached to her most of the time.
I wish you all the best in this journey! I hope she gets to come home soon!
Melissa
I cant imagine what it would be like if we were already struggling financially or if we knew our medical bills would be tens of thousands of dollars (or in our little one’s case even more) – we dont have the budget to spend on hotels but we hopefully wont be here too much longer & we do have a small emergency fund – RMDH has been an amazing blessing to our family – I cant imagine what it must mean to those who have it even harder than us – and yes – NICU teams are amazing, just a humbling experience all around for sure!
Oh Kate!! I am SO glad to hear you are in good hands and getting the help and assistance you are deserve. God is so good! I think and pray for you guys often. You guys are incredible and I admire your love and commitment to sweet Charlotte. What an amazing and godly example you are to Josie and Silas as well as the rest of your family and friends around you. May God continue to bless your precious family!!