Reply to Baby in NICU

Forum Index » Expectant and Postpartum Moms

Reply to "Baby in NICU"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]OP, my friend had three NICU babies and then I had mine. Two things she said stuck with me and helped.

First, the day you get discharged and the baby doesn't will be tough. So I mentally prepared myself, I was strong, I was fine! I left, made it through the car ride, got home, then sobbed for an hour. And you know what? That is okay. It's okay to feel sad or scared or whatever. Don't hold in the emotions.

Second, your first instinct is to spend every moment there. But remember: you are still recovering from birth and need to heal. And you will have to be strong and rested for when baby does comes home. (Realize there will probably be lots of doctor appts, etc.) So try to balance the time at the hospital vs time healing at home. You can still stay in touch from home...we would call the NICU and talk to the nurse before we went to bed every night. I'd call at random other times just to see how he was doing when I couldn't go in until later. The staff always made time to check in with me when I called.

Agree with PP, lean on the NICU nurses, they are AMAZING.

Finally, I'm not sure if this is dependent on the reason for NICU, but the nurses had a schedule and every three hours the baby came out in order to be changed/fed/etc. They encouraged me to be there at those times so I could hold my baby while he was out. Maybe ask if there is a similar schedule or time where you can take advantage of the baby being out of the incubator and get some hug time in.

Thinking of you and your little one.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics