The date was April 18th, 2013 at about 5:30 in the morning. My wife was going on day four of bed rest in the L&D, pregnant with our second child. Our 1.5 year old daughter was at home with family wondering where Mommy and Daddy were. My wife was 28.5 weeks pregnant and we were just waiting for the doctors to clear us to go home. She was in quite a bit of pain and our nurse came in to check on her. She quickly left to get the Charge Nurse.
Delivery
The next thing I heard was, “We’re having a baby right now!” To that nurse – thank you for being so proactive and making the right call immediately. It potentially saved my daughter’s life.
Thinking to myself…what? She is only 28.5 weeks! The nurses talked through what was going to happen and were there with us through the entire process. To those nurses – thank you for being there and holding my wife’s hand with me. The NICU doctor came in to educate us on what was about to happen and before we knew it, our room had turned into a mini-NICU with 12 staff members to help with the delivery.
“When she comes out she won’t make any sounds because her lungs aren’t quite developed yet, so we will take her immediately and intubate her to make sure she is ok and then take her to the NICU,” said the doctor.
As a parent, as hard as it was, I knew everything was out of our control. Trust God, the doctors, and the nurses.
Post-Delivery
My daughter was born at 2.5 pounds and about 15 inches long…and we had lots of questions. The NICU nurses were there for us all the way! Will she survive? Are we bad parents if we don’t stay here every night? What do the alarms mean? When can we hold our baby? How much do they eat? What’s the car seat test? No question was left unanswered and we felt comfortable, confident, and at home. Our target go home date was her due date, July 9th.
We spent days and days, hours and hours, in that NICU unit, celebrating successes, exchanging stories, and getting to know our wonderful nurses who were caring for and helping to grow our daughter.
My wife and I would do shift changes every day. We both continued working so we could take time off when she came home. We would visit over lunch and my wife would go to the NICU from 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm and I was there 9 pm – midnight, while the other was home with our other daughter. I called our nurse every day at 7 am to check on the prior night. Every morning they were ready and gave a full report. Much of our weekends were split between home and the NICU. It was our second home and the nurses made it that way.
3 pounds, 4 pounds, 5 pounds, 6 pounds… all the milestones that were achieved, we celebrated with our nurses and they would write encouraging notes and phrases on the marker board in the room. Everything to help us feel more at ease and at home.
Headed Home
After 2.5 months, on July 9th, we headed home. The nurses gave us going away gifts and we still keep in touch with several today, nearly six years later. In the longest 2.5 months of our lives, our nurses helped make it the best possible and supported us every step of the way.
Because of you, we made it through. Thank you for all you do!
Jeff West is a Regional Manager for the Nursing division of Aureus Medical Group.