Hold onto your hat -- I had to go back to the hospital!
No pictures, please -- I'm resting!Abby came home -- then went back to the hospital...
Monday, February 18 was a good day -- I had my catheter removed from the bladder repair, I felt like a new woman. Abby was coming home -- we were on our way to being a real family.
It was cold outside that night -- really cold. The thermometer in the car read 9 degrees on our ride home. I was in the back seat holding Abby's hand the whole way. She was bundled up in the car seat with a blanket over the top -- she was probably freezing, poor girl.
We got her home and immediately took her out of the car seat as it was time for her to eat. She had a sleeper and a long-sleeve t-shirt on. We swaddled her in one receiving blanket and didn't give her a hat to wear (the nurse at discharge said it wasn't necessary). After she ate, she feel back asleep and soon it was time for bed.
Geoff and I arranged the bassinet upstairs in our bed room so we could both access her easily during the night. Again, she still only had one receiving blanket over her and her sleeper and long-sleeve t-shirt. We didn't know what we were doing -- she should stay warm, right?
Wrong. We awoke at 4:30 am to feed her and as Geoff prepared the bottle, I scooped her up into my arms and gave her a kiss on the forehead (as I always do) -- wait, she feels cool, I thought. The nurse at discharge said we didn't have to take her temperature all the time, but I felt this situation made it necessary. I knew that our girls were just out of the isolettes a few days, and Abby had unusually lower temperatures than her much smaller sister, Emily. I told Geoff that I was taking her temperature -- and when I did and only got a 94.3 degree reading -- I thought I did something wrong. He tried and got the same reading. We were concerned, but not alarmed at the moment. He proceeded with her feeding as I pumped. We both had the 94.3 degree reading in our heads and thought out our next steps.
We ended up calling into the nursery to get their advice. They advised repeating the temperature and if it was still low, to call the pediatrician. We did, and it was still low -- now to call the pediatrician that they have not yet seen. She called back and told us to bundle her up and hold her for about 20 minutes and see if that helps to increase her temperature. We did that and it didn't change the outcome much at all. We called the pediatrician again, and she advised us to take Abby into the Emergency Room.
So we bundled her up and loaded her into her car seat for another ride, this time back to the hospital. Again, I held her hand during the car ride -- it's my way of comforting her, and also my way of making sure she is okay. Throughout the ride she would squeeze my finger -- it helped reassure me that she was still hanging on.
Upon arrival to the ER, she was placed under the heat lamps and an IV was started. A pediatric hospitalist stopped by and informed us that she was going to be readmitted -- great! We couldn't survive a day with a baby home without breaking her! They took some blood and urine (through a catheter -- poor girl) to send out for culture. They wanted to rule out an infection. Most likely the cause of the low temperature was the fact that she is a preemie -- but they couldn't just assume that.
We were moved up to the Children and Teens unit -- Abby had been released into the big bad world outside, so she could not be readmitted to the Special Care Nursery where Emily was still. Instead, Abby had a regular patient room and inside of that was an isolette. I asked the nurse if I could stay in the room with her (it was a double room and the other bed was empty) -- she blocked off the other bed, since they didn't want to take the chance of exposing Abby to an ill child -- thank God. Since there wouldn't be 24 hour care for Abby (there were nurses, but they had to tend to the other patients of the floor in their own rooms), Geoff and I decided that I would stay with Abby until she was discharged. There was no way we were going to leave our little girl in a patient room all by herself! Unfortunately, this meant that I could not leave the room to be with Emily either, since she was all the way on the other side of the hospital.
Luckily, the staff in the New Life Center found out about our situation and quickly got the ball rolling to move us to an open room in the postpartum unit. Shortly after midnight, Abby and I were moved to our new room, directly across the hall from where Emily was. They also arranged to have 24-hour nursing care for Abby, so if I wanted to go to the nursery to be with Emily, someone would be there to sit with Abby. I can't say enough about the wonderful staff in the NLC -- they really took great care of me and our girls.
Abby spent Tuesday through Friday morning in the isolette -- they took her our early Friday morning. Her temps had been up, but barely in the acceptable range. The plan was to discharge her on Saturday if all went well. She was able to maintain her temps, and after many conversations with the nurses, we knew what we had to do once we got Abby home. She would need help staying warm, so we had to be sure to bundle her up really well, since in the hospital they were using 2 receiving blankets and 2 additional blankets on top of that. We knew that we didn't have enough on her the first time -- but nobody told us that we had to bundle her like an Eskimo! Now we knew better...
Abby was discharged on Saturday evening. We brought her home and this time were a lot smarter about how we did things. First of all, I think it helped that it was warmer outside, 30 degrees is a lot better than 9. Then we kept her in the car seat for about 30 minutes after we got home -- to allow the house to warm up. She was cozy and sleeping in there, so there was no need to disturb her (we fed her before we left the hospital). We survived the night, and the next day and the next... she is staying nice and warm, and we are much better educated on how to keep her that way!
Monday, February 18 was a good day -- I had my catheter removed from the bladder repair, I felt like a new woman. Abby was coming home -- we were on our way to being a real family.
It was cold outside that night -- really cold. The thermometer in the car read 9 degrees on our ride home. I was in the back seat holding Abby's hand the whole way. She was bundled up in the car seat with a blanket over the top -- she was probably freezing, poor girl.
We got her home and immediately took her out of the car seat as it was time for her to eat. She had a sleeper and a long-sleeve t-shirt on. We swaddled her in one receiving blanket and didn't give her a hat to wear (the nurse at discharge said it wasn't necessary). After she ate, she feel back asleep and soon it was time for bed.
Geoff and I arranged the bassinet upstairs in our bed room so we could both access her easily during the night. Again, she still only had one receiving blanket over her and her sleeper and long-sleeve t-shirt. We didn't know what we were doing -- she should stay warm, right?
Wrong. We awoke at 4:30 am to feed her and as Geoff prepared the bottle, I scooped her up into my arms and gave her a kiss on the forehead (as I always do) -- wait, she feels cool, I thought. The nurse at discharge said we didn't have to take her temperature all the time, but I felt this situation made it necessary. I knew that our girls were just out of the isolettes a few days, and Abby had unusually lower temperatures than her much smaller sister, Emily. I told Geoff that I was taking her temperature -- and when I did and only got a 94.3 degree reading -- I thought I did something wrong. He tried and got the same reading. We were concerned, but not alarmed at the moment. He proceeded with her feeding as I pumped. We both had the 94.3 degree reading in our heads and thought out our next steps.
We ended up calling into the nursery to get their advice. They advised repeating the temperature and if it was still low, to call the pediatrician. We did, and it was still low -- now to call the pediatrician that they have not yet seen. She called back and told us to bundle her up and hold her for about 20 minutes and see if that helps to increase her temperature. We did that and it didn't change the outcome much at all. We called the pediatrician again, and she advised us to take Abby into the Emergency Room.
So we bundled her up and loaded her into her car seat for another ride, this time back to the hospital. Again, I held her hand during the car ride -- it's my way of comforting her, and also my way of making sure she is okay. Throughout the ride she would squeeze my finger -- it helped reassure me that she was still hanging on.
Upon arrival to the ER, she was placed under the heat lamps and an IV was started. A pediatric hospitalist stopped by and informed us that she was going to be readmitted -- great! We couldn't survive a day with a baby home without breaking her! They took some blood and urine (through a catheter -- poor girl) to send out for culture. They wanted to rule out an infection. Most likely the cause of the low temperature was the fact that she is a preemie -- but they couldn't just assume that.
We were moved up to the Children and Teens unit -- Abby had been released into the big bad world outside, so she could not be readmitted to the Special Care Nursery where Emily was still. Instead, Abby had a regular patient room and inside of that was an isolette. I asked the nurse if I could stay in the room with her (it was a double room and the other bed was empty) -- she blocked off the other bed, since they didn't want to take the chance of exposing Abby to an ill child -- thank God. Since there wouldn't be 24 hour care for Abby (there were nurses, but they had to tend to the other patients of the floor in their own rooms), Geoff and I decided that I would stay with Abby until she was discharged. There was no way we were going to leave our little girl in a patient room all by herself! Unfortunately, this meant that I could not leave the room to be with Emily either, since she was all the way on the other side of the hospital.
Luckily, the staff in the New Life Center found out about our situation and quickly got the ball rolling to move us to an open room in the postpartum unit. Shortly after midnight, Abby and I were moved to our new room, directly across the hall from where Emily was. They also arranged to have 24-hour nursing care for Abby, so if I wanted to go to the nursery to be with Emily, someone would be there to sit with Abby. I can't say enough about the wonderful staff in the NLC -- they really took great care of me and our girls.
Abby spent Tuesday through Friday morning in the isolette -- they took her our early Friday morning. Her temps had been up, but barely in the acceptable range. The plan was to discharge her on Saturday if all went well. She was able to maintain her temps, and after many conversations with the nurses, we knew what we had to do once we got Abby home. She would need help staying warm, so we had to be sure to bundle her up really well, since in the hospital they were using 2 receiving blankets and 2 additional blankets on top of that. We knew that we didn't have enough on her the first time -- but nobody told us that we had to bundle her like an Eskimo! Now we knew better...
Abby was discharged on Saturday evening. We brought her home and this time were a lot smarter about how we did things. First of all, I think it helped that it was warmer outside, 30 degrees is a lot better than 9. Then we kept her in the car seat for about 30 minutes after we got home -- to allow the house to warm up. She was cozy and sleeping in there, so there was no need to disturb her (we fed her before we left the hospital). We survived the night, and the next day and the next... she is staying nice and warm, and we are much better educated on how to keep her that way!
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