NICU

About two hours after Benjamin was born they moved us upstairs to the mother and baby recovery rooms.  While we were moving Benjamin upstairs he started to make these grunting noises.  We actually thought that they were pretty cute but it started concerning the nurse.  

They told us that the grunting could be a sign that he was struggling to breath.  They asked if they could take him to the nursery to watch him for half an hour.  Gus and Darlene were so sweet and came right as we were getting into our room.  We got settled while they took little Benjamin to the nursery.  

After awhile the nurse came in and told us that his breathing was just fine but that they had discovered that his blood glucose levels were very low.  They said that they wanted to continue to monitor him and would keep us informed.  They kept coming in and telling us that his glucose levels were coming back low.  

Mark and I were just waiting for our little one to come back to us until about 2:00 in the morning when they came in and told us that they were moving him to the NICU.  I was shocked.  In my mind, I just thought of the NICU as a place for premature, teeny tiny babies.  We wanted to go down with him and help get him settled and get a better idea as to what was going on.  

We learned a lot.  Apparently "big" babies can be just as at risk as teeny, tiny babies for complications.  How it was explained to us was the Benjamin was too large for his body to regulate things properly.  So they would be checking his glucose levels every three hours and they needed to be greater than 40.  It was hard to see nurses getting him all hooked up to machines and it was really hard to watch them set up his IV.  He inherited my veins and they had a really hard time finding one that would work.  They finally got one set up in his hand but it seemed like every time he moved his little hand it would set off his alarm.  

At about 4:30 we headed back to our room.  We were really tired and worried about our little one.  We knew that he was in good hands and it didn't appear to be super serious but we were still worried.  We tried to get some sleep for a couple hours, got some breakfast and headed back down.  

We met our pediatrician down in the NICU and we came up with a plan.  Benjamin's levels had gone up and he wanted to have a pretty aggressive weaning plan.  The rest of the day was a bit of a blur.  We seemed to be constantly going back and forth between the NICU and my recovery room.  Benjamin didn't do as well with the aggressive weaning plan so we slowed that down a bit and he did much better.  

We were bummed because we really wanted Jacob and Sarah to be able to come and meet Benjamin in the hospital.  But the NICU didn't allow young children to come in.  One of the nice things that happened that day though was that one of my good friends, Karli, had her baby girl just the day before we did.  We were only three doors down from each other in recovery!  So we were able to visit with her and her husband for about an hour inbetween our NICU visits.  

It was an experience I definitely didn't imagine having.  We felt so blessed though that Benjamin wasn't in danger and would most likely not have to be there long.  I felt so sad as we would walk by the other rooms with these teeny-tiny babies with so many more problems.  I can't imagine how hard that would be as a parent.  

We loved our NICU nurse and she was so helpful in answering all of our questions and concerns.  Mark and I left the NICU for the last time at 10:30 that night pretty exhausted.  We were able to get a little bit of sleep and were so happy around 4:00 in the morning when they wheeled in our little boy.  It was the first time we had him with us since leaving the delivery room.  I just sat up and held him until morning.  

Later that morning he passed all of his tests to be discharged and we were so thrilled.  I was anxious to get our little guy home and start this next chapter in our lives.  We are so grateful for all of the kind people that helped us during our stay.  And we love our big, strong boy who was so brave throughout all of this.