In honor of September being Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU) Awareness month, I wanted to share the 3 weeks of my NICU experience with Max (originally written on September 21, 2014).  The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is the last place you expect to send your child especially if you expected to deliver a full term healthy baby. Since Maxwell was born early at 32 weeks and was born not breathing, he was sent to the NICU to get better. I’m thankful and forever grateful to those NICU nurses and neonatologists who cared for Maxwell the 25 days/3 weeks he spent in the NICU. Below are my thoughts each week he was in the NICU.

Week 1

I wasn’t able to see Maxwell until Thursday, he was born on Tuesday and my body was stable. I was still on oxygen, but was off life support (back story on what happened here) and breathing on my own. I had even began to get out of bed and asked for them to remove the catheter. My trama ICU nurse wheeled me and my oxygen tank down to the NICU so I could see Maxwell. He was so tiny and I didn’t want to touch him because I thought I would hurt him. The NICU nurses were extremely helpful and taught us how to do it all from taking his temperature to feeding him to changing his diaper.

I was discharged and at home not able to drive due to my pain medication. I was up pumping every 3 hours to feed Maxwell. I couldn’t sleep in the bed or the couch because of pain. I had to sleep in a chair until my pain went away. I went back and forth to the hospital everyday twice a day during the morning and at night. This week my grandma in love drove me because I was still in pain meds. I met with social workers, nurse practitioners, physical therapists, lactation consultants, and his bedside nurses. He slowly moved from taking milk from the feeding tube to taking a bottle. He was doing very well that I almost thought he would come home. However he wasn’t holding temperature and had to be moved back to his isolette. The going back and forth to the hospital took a toll on me and my husband. I was defeated and frustrated. I blamed myself and God on why Maxwell came early and had to be in the NICU. I just wanted him to be home even though I was still recovering. 

25 days 3 weeks later and our baby boy was home.  August 19, 2014 to September 13, 2014

1. Embrace, Understand, and Become an Advocate for your child.  Your child is in the NICU because they need to get better.  You have to embrace and understand that first.  Once you come to terms with that, learn about everything that the nurses and doctors are doing.  Become your child’s biggest cheerleader and advocate. No one, I repeat, no one knows what is best other than you for your child.
2. You are not in control.  Only God is.  Yes, God is the only person in control.  Once I was able to understand that it was out of my control and in Gods control I was more content in waiting until Maxwell was ready to come home. Your child will come home when THEY are ready.  Continue to ask God for patience in waiting on your little one to get better in order to come home.

Keep the Faith!

~Erica