Day 1 in the NICU

The night Carson was born, Brent was able to take our parents to the NICU to visit Carson. Unfortunately, the grandparents weren't able to hold her because we wanted to limit germ exposure, but they were able to see her. Brent learned the ins-and-outs, so by the next morning, when I was ready to see my little baby, I knew the routine.

For our NICU experience, every time we went to see Carson, we had to wash our hands for two minutes and wear a medical gown. (Those things get hot and my hands were so dry by the end of June, but it was all worth it.)

When we went to visit the NICU while I was on bed rest, it was really sad to see the tiny babies in there and picture our baby in there too. It's not a place where you want your child to be, but if they are, they are in EXTREMELY good hands. They have a dedicated nurse watching over them and checking on them constantly. The nurses are empathetic to the parents and of course, professional. You can tell they love what they do and they are passionate for taking care of the tiny ones of the world!!

Our routine started by 9am every day, since that is when her first feeding of the day started and the neo-natal doctors made their rounds. I always wanted to be there when the doctors were there to hear what they had to say. Her routine was like this: Change her diaper, take her temperature and then try to nurse or feed her a bottle. Then get as much snuggle time as we wanted.

The emotions that I remember from those first few days were happiness, anxiousness and sadness. I know hormones played a role, but it was this emotional roller coaster of being happy that Carson was doing well and was healthy. But I was sad that she was tied up to machines, IVs in her little head and that we couldn't take her home yet. I was anxious because the doctors and nurses never give you a timeline of when she will come home. Only that she must meet certain criteria, so then you are just hoping that she continues on the path of maintaining her own temperature and gaining weight. So that's what we did. We nurtured her when we could get to the NICU and let the wonderful nurses and doctors do the rest.

Pictures in the NICU


Carson all snuggled after a feeding with Daddy.



I heart my bottles - 1 oz to begin with!

Carson and Mommy.

Mission: Pampers

When I checked my e-mail, there was this huge advertisement that greeted me:


I usually ignore these because they don't relate to me, but this one had me at their headline, "Every baby is a little miracle."

I had to click on the link and I encourage you to do the same:

http://bit.ly/ifdQqH

The link takes you to the Pampers' YouTube page which showcases a moving commercial about however your little bundle of joy enters the world, each baby is special and needs tender-loving care.

I've seen this commerical before, and it always brings a little tear to my eye. It does show that every story is unique and that every baby is a little miracle.

Along with buying their product (which I do love Pampers), they also are setting out missions for people to choose to accept. This month's challenge - helping father's bond with their child (in honor of Father's Day). This is a special mission because it is so important for fathers to feel that connection with their newborn. Mothers feel that connection as soon as they find out they're pregnant, but in my opinion, it takes until the birth of the child for a father to "get it".

It is so important for the baby to feel the love from both parents. Being taken care of from both mom and dad and not just mom. Plus, it helps the parents share the new responsibilities.

I will brag on Brent for a minute too. He was awesome. He connected right away to Carson, and I know he was proud of the fact that she looked EXACTLY like him. We called her his mini-me. They really are two peas in a pod. Along with his silliness with her, he is a rock-star dad. From Day 1 in the NICU, he shared in the feedings, changings, and taking her temperature. Once we got her home, he would do the late night feeding, so I could sleep for 6 hours until her 3am feeding. He still shares in the feeding, cleaning, changing and playing. He is an awesome dad to Carson and I know that is so important for her development. So I will choose to accept this mission to make sure he gets some special father-daughter time this Father's Day.

So please take a minute to click on the link and if you have a special dad in your life, tell him what he means to you.

News & NICU

(Looking good for bed rest and rockin the circulation leg thingys - yes, the technical term.)

During your stay on the high-risk maternity floor, you see a lot of nurses and doctors. For the most part, I really didn't mind getting interrupted every three hours to get an update on my progress or even care that they saw me without any make-up on or have consecutive bad hair days. (That's another blog post for another day!)

The thing that really bothered me was that they didn't sugar coat the news. And for me, I am a hearts and rainbows kinda of girl. Give me the sugar. I can imagine the bad stuff, but tell me the good stuff. Tell me the stuff that makes me think positive and believe that everything is going to be okay.

Nope, not here. And I understood why. Because they don't know. They don't know what you (or they) are in store for until your little bundle of joy is born, so they give you ALL the scenarios. And honestly, they are all pretty scary. Not fun for a person who is a visual learner and does not want to picture her baby with feeding or breathing tubes.

I think that was one of the most stressful times on bed rest. Hearing all the "what if's" or "this is a possibility."

The nurses even suggested getting a tour of the NICU so we would know what to expect when Carson was there. That was hard. Brent and I put on our brave faces that evening, but when we got back to the room, I was sad. There were at least 10 little babies all under 4 pounds. They were just so tiny. The nurses didn't tell us each of their conditions, but did say that for a baby to get out of the NICU, they must master three things:

1. Be able to breathe on their own.

2. Maintain their own body temperature.

3. Eat well.

So there were our goals for Carson once she was born.

And for me, my goal was to stay positive. I firmly believe if you think good thoughts, good things will happen. (Plus, a lot of praying done by me, family and friends.)

Do you know anyone that went thru a similar situation? Tell them to e-mail me at hull.jennifer@yahoo.com. Or what situation did you have that you heard all negative but tried to make it a positive?