We got home early Friday morning after our eventful night in the sleep room. I had soooooo much energy. I got a jump on making cupcakes for the neighborhood bonfire for Saturday. I was cleaning up stuff around the house. I started making lists of things we needed to buy at Target and Buy Buy Baby. Heck, we didn't have newborn diapers or clothing in the house b/c we didn't expect to have our little girl home so soon. Daren did convince me to lay down for a nap. I was knocked out for an hour before I was out of bed and back to the madness.
We got to the hospital around 5pm and got the news that feedings did not go well during the morning. Willa would not take the bottle and the nurse had to insert the NG tube for feedings. This meant she was not coming home on Sunday. This was a big letdown but we were not surprised. I hadn't been super confident about the feedings b/c it was such a struggle to try and keep Willa awake.
The new feeding plan is that we are back to every three hours versus when she is waking up hungry. Switching from breastfeeding and supplementing with the bottle to bottle feeding and supplementing with the NG tube. The doctors thought this method would save some of Willa's energy. Willa also has a tendency to take short fast breaths which could also contribute to her getting tired more quickly.
We stayed in the sleep room only to nap b/c we stayed at the hospital until 2am. I really wanted to get Willa started on the new feeding routine. One other note from Thursday was Daren gave Willa a bath. I had to sit this one out b/c I think I suffered my first energy crash. My refusal to slow down and rest finally caught up with me. It was at this point I realized I need to sleep more and take care of myself as far as eating and drinking between feedings. This little girl is going to need me a whole lot more once we are out of the hospital.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Meal Sign Up - From Layna
Shelly and Daren have received wonderful support from friends and family wanting to provide meals to them while Willa is in the hospital on into when she gets to come home. We know that Shelly has pushed those requests aside not knowing when her or Daren would be home each night. So, we have come up with a Meal Sign Up Sheet that you can sign up to bring them a meal. Please find the attached spreadsheet below. You do not need to sign in to anything to sign up. Just click the link and put your information in on the date you will be able to provide a meal. Also, when you type something in, the spreadsheet will automatically update. There is no need to save. If you need to make changes, you can come in at anytime to do so.
Since Shelly and Daren do not know what time they will be home each night from being with Willa, there will be a large cooler on the front doorstep of Shelly and Daren’s house behind the lighted palm tree and rocking chairs. On the day you are signed up, please drop off the meal by 6pm. This way, Shelly and Daren can get home some nights at 9pm and still have a meal ready to just reheat. If you are not local and would like to send them a meal, you can order for the meal to be delivered to Layna Langley’s house at 7 Silverwood Ct, Durham, NC 27713. She will be able to drop it off to the Streett’s for you. Please make sure to text or call her with the time of delivery – 919-607-8449.
Thursday - Sleep Room
The NICU at UNC has three sleep rooms for families to use as a test round for heading home. After the shocking news of Willa's quickly approaching discharge we got set up in the sleep room. I was a single parent for a bit because Daren was playing softball with the church team. I was to expect him around 11pm.
Because we were on the road to home, the feeding schedule is adjusted from every three hours to when we saw hunger cues. I just had to make sure I fed her by the fourth hour. I think I rushed the first feeding at 830pm and that set the tone for the evening. My first go-round of single parenting wasn't stellar. Maybe if I had cheered a bit louder each time UNC M Soccer scored a goal v. Boston College Willa might have stayed awake for the feeding.
Thursday was my first opportunity to have a hand at changing the dressing on the omphalocele. My helper was our nurse and we had an audience of the charge nurse and someone in training. I was asked if it was okay to have the extra sets of eyes b/c the trainee had never seen an om. The change went great and Willa hardly made a peep.
Daren got back to the hospital around 1130pm. We enjoyed a late picnic supper of meatball subs and chatted about how crazy it was we were going to have Willa home in a few days. I lost track of time and when I looked at my watch it was 1230am. Panic, on my part, set in. I didn't want the nurses to think I couldn't keep my baby fed so I started snapping orders to Daren. Get this. Move that table. Move faster. I was not a nice person. I'm sure it isn't surprising, but we didn't have a successful feeding before going to bed.
I woke up around 230am, pumped, and went back to pod B for a bit of a "counseling" session my from night nurse. I felt like such a failure and just awful about how I treated Daren. She reassured me everything was going to be okay and it will get easier on Friday when we were scheduled for our second night in the sleep room.
We were out of the sleep room by 8am so we could head home and do some more preparations for our little Bean to come home. We planned on being back at the hospital by the afternoon before starting our second stay on the NICU.
Because we were on the road to home, the feeding schedule is adjusted from every three hours to when we saw hunger cues. I just had to make sure I fed her by the fourth hour. I think I rushed the first feeding at 830pm and that set the tone for the evening. My first go-round of single parenting wasn't stellar. Maybe if I had cheered a bit louder each time UNC M Soccer scored a goal v. Boston College Willa might have stayed awake for the feeding.
Thursday was my first opportunity to have a hand at changing the dressing on the omphalocele. My helper was our nurse and we had an audience of the charge nurse and someone in training. I was asked if it was okay to have the extra sets of eyes b/c the trainee had never seen an om. The change went great and Willa hardly made a peep.
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| Meatball subs. YUM |
I woke up around 230am, pumped, and went back to pod B for a bit of a "counseling" session my from night nurse. I felt like such a failure and just awful about how I treated Daren. She reassured me everything was going to be okay and it will get easier on Friday when we were scheduled for our second night in the sleep room.
We were out of the sleep room by 8am so we could head home and do some more preparations for our little Bean to come home. We planned on being back at the hospital by the afternoon before starting our second stay on the NICU.
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| Our accommodations |
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| Willa is oblivious to the chaos |
Prunes & Fiber One Bars
Having a bowel movement is a big topic of conversation between the nurses and patients. As I posted earlier, I was also forewarned about the potential pains I was facing. I had planned to bring some Fiber One bars with me to the hospital. Well, the early delivery beat me to my purchase.
I was a superstar and didn't have any issues. So my advice to all expecting mom's is to pop a prune every now and again to keep yourself regular.
I was a superstar and didn't have any issues. So my advice to all expecting mom's is to pop a prune every now and again to keep yourself regular.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Thursday - Big News!
Thursday was the first time we came to the hospital from home. I think Daren and I both benefited from the sleep in our own bed. No real changes overnight and we were content with doing feedings and hanging out until the morning rounds.
Some of the big points from rounds was that Willa had a slight increase in her weight and is just below birth weight. She was 5.9 at birth and weighed 5.08 at the Wednesday evening weigh check. The order for the IV fluids will not be renewed. A multivitamin will start being administered on Friday and the bili number is trending up and will continue to be monitored. We are going to consult peds ortho for the left foot.
Rounds are happening all around us and I am on the computer making quick 3-4 word notes on all the big topics. I'm typing in there are some tests to be completed and can the get done before Sunday because that is when they want to discharge our little Willa Bean. My eyes snapped up so fast to meet Daren's. I wasn't sure I heard them correctly but they really said Sunday will be d-day if all continues to go well with feedings.
The woman from occupational health therapy, same person making the prosthetic, asked how soon she could get the car seat to begin working on any required modifications due to the omphalocele. We told her that we would get her the car seat as soon as we bought one.
Daren and I were off and running by 2pm to get to Buy Buy Baby to purchase the car seat. We were under time constraints b/c I pushed Daren into going and playing softball with our church team. I wanted Daren to get out and have some normalcy within all of this NICU time.
** I just wanted to let everyone know the discharge has been delayed b/c Willa needs to eat more.
Here is a video of Willa without and tubes or tapes on her face. This girl loves to sleep. Okay, I'm going to post both videos. Roll your eyes but I'm a new mom and I just couldn't decide which to post so I'm going with both.
Some of the big points from rounds was that Willa had a slight increase in her weight and is just below birth weight. She was 5.9 at birth and weighed 5.08 at the Wednesday evening weigh check. The order for the IV fluids will not be renewed. A multivitamin will start being administered on Friday and the bili number is trending up and will continue to be monitored. We are going to consult peds ortho for the left foot.
Rounds are happening all around us and I am on the computer making quick 3-4 word notes on all the big topics. I'm typing in there are some tests to be completed and can the get done before Sunday because that is when they want to discharge our little Willa Bean. My eyes snapped up so fast to meet Daren's. I wasn't sure I heard them correctly but they really said Sunday will be d-day if all continues to go well with feedings.
The woman from occupational health therapy, same person making the prosthetic, asked how soon she could get the car seat to begin working on any required modifications due to the omphalocele. We told her that we would get her the car seat as soon as we bought one.
Daren and I were off and running by 2pm to get to Buy Buy Baby to purchase the car seat. We were under time constraints b/c I pushed Daren into going and playing softball with our church team. I wanted Daren to get out and have some normalcy within all of this NICU time.
** I just wanted to let everyone know the discharge has been delayed b/c Willa needs to eat more.
Here is a video of Willa without and tubes or tapes on her face. This girl loves to sleep. Okay, I'm going to post both videos. Roll your eyes but I'm a new mom and I just couldn't decide which to post so I'm going with both.
Crying for Many Reasons
This all started on Friday and I've cried for various reasons -
Friday, late afternoon, while in the labor & delivery room when the nurse was going over the details for the morning. I wasn't crying b/c I was scared. The tears were about how this was all real and I was going to meet my little guy/girl in a few short hours.
Saturday when the doctors said it is a girl.
Sunday evening when I got to see and hold Willa for the first time.
Monday morning when I got so frustrated I was still constrained to my hospital bed while Daren was able to visit. Daren missed this episode and looking back I'm a bit embarrassed at how I was in such a frantic to get to the NICU.
Wednesday evening when we once again had an IV go bad and the nurses had issues finding a good vein. There were a number of attempts I had to leave the room and get away from the situation. After a few tears and retail therapy, I purchased NICU family shirts for Daren and myself, I was back and ready to return.
Tears are healthy and I'm sure I will have some more before we leave here.
Friday, late afternoon, while in the labor & delivery room when the nurse was going over the details for the morning. I wasn't crying b/c I was scared. The tears were about how this was all real and I was going to meet my little guy/girl in a few short hours.
Saturday when the doctors said it is a girl.
Sunday evening when I got to see and hold Willa for the first time.
Monday morning when I got so frustrated I was still constrained to my hospital bed while Daren was able to visit. Daren missed this episode and looking back I'm a bit embarrassed at how I was in such a frantic to get to the NICU.
Wednesday evening when we once again had an IV go bad and the nurses had issues finding a good vein. There were a number of attempts I had to leave the room and get away from the situation. After a few tears and retail therapy, I purchased NICU family shirts for Daren and myself, I was back and ready to return.
Tears are healthy and I'm sure I will have some more before we leave here.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Want to See an Omphalocele?
On Wednesday I got to see Willa's omphalocele completely bare. New skin growth is visible at the base of the om. In person you can see the differentiation of the two organs contained within the om - the liver and a portion of the bowel.
The om does not cause Willa any pain because it doesn't have any nerve endings. Again, right now it is roughly the size of an oversized tennis ball. Once the prosthetic is created we will begin to slowly push everything back inside.
Daren and I are doing the application of the silvadine and wrapping everything in gauze. Willa is fairly cooperative. We swaddle her arms underneath her as shown in the picture below. Next we have to goop it fairly thick with the silvadine and put a small roll of gauze on each side for stability. The final step is wrapping the entire om in the gauze and securing it with tape. It is hard for the nurses to not step in and help us but they realize we need to figure this out on our own.
The om does not cause Willa any pain because it doesn't have any nerve endings. Again, right now it is roughly the size of an oversized tennis ball. Once the prosthetic is created we will begin to slowly push everything back inside.
Daren and I are doing the application of the silvadine and wrapping everything in gauze. Willa is fairly cooperative. We swaddle her arms underneath her as shown in the picture below. Next we have to goop it fairly thick with the silvadine and put a small roll of gauze on each side for stability. The final step is wrapping the entire om in the gauze and securing it with tape. It is hard for the nurses to not step in and help us but they realize we need to figure this out on our own.
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