What do you remember fron N.I.C.U

[jesses_girl]

I only really have sad memories up until SCN but i loooove top to toe! I bought it today lol And i still think to use paper towel wipes. Damm i got good at those cords! I know what the monitors mean What good memory go you have from NICU?

[black_rose]

I remember dd being under the lights for her jaundice with the eye covers on resting on top of a nappy like a roast chook! She still loves being all snuggly and warm. She also loved playing with her nasal tube. I have a beautiful photo of it draped all around her and her blanket.

[maz]

the nurses letting me hold tank when ever I wanted.

I'll never forget the smell of the place though and the smell of the accomidation at the hospital itself

[Early Kids]

I remember everything.... the beeping, the lighting, the humidity....

Brendan's entire journey made Tristan's a whole lot easier. Knowing what it all meant and how things happened down there meant that when Tristan arrived I was left to my own devices. I was "allowed" to do everything with him, because I didn't need to be shown.

I also LOVE the smell of Aqium Although sometimes it does bring back some bad memories...

[Inertia]

Sadly my strongest memory is the absolute pain of not being able to hold my baby for the first week of his life. It felt like torture. There he is in a little plastic box and you can't have him! I remember every time I walked past the NICU unit with Haz when he was born I would just have to pick him up to prove to myself I could.

[DaintreeDream]

IBrendan's entire journey made Tristan's a whole lot easier.

Same here. Matildas journey made Annabelles so much easier. I too knew what all of the machines meant and the beeps and the leads. I mastered putting the leads on and repositioning them when they played up. I hate that Aquim stuff, it leaves a horrible coating on your hands, they had that at RCH, the pink stuff at MMC was a little nicer. I too had the pain of not being able to hold my baby, not being able to feed my baby and the unbearable pain of their little bodies still from the drugs after surgery, the recovery that seemed to take forever, the pain I knew they were feeling and the tubes down their throats to help them breath, the pins coming out of Matildas chin when she was so small and having to turn them knowing that I was extending her little jaw, to see Annabelles heart beating with her chest open wide all the while so tiny and limp. I find it hard to treasure happy memories from NICU, I prefer to treasure happy memories at home where my girls are now safe and sound.

[shazzi]

I have so many negative strong memories, everything still feels too fresh one year on. But a good memory was seeing DH learning how to change her nappy in the first few days while in NICU, under lights and on CPAP. His hands looked soooo huge lifting up our little DD, and he was shaking and scared about hurting her. HE was so in love already and it was beautiful. The first kangaroo cuddle when DD was 2 days old was so overwhelming, then I had to wait again for a few days so heartwrenching as well.

[ladybird11]

Everytime I smell anti-bacterial hand wash it brings me back to just entering the NICU to see DD.

I also remember being swift at changing nappies side on while DD was in the humidicrib too.

I recall every visit upon entering the NICU running to see DD's 'daily running sheet' to check her weight gains .

[DaintreeDream]

I don't think I will ever escape CPAP, we are still battling it now and it is still a horrible thing to deal with

Yes I too remember running in to see the weight gain, Matilda had to be a minimum of 4kgs to undergo surgery and until the surgery was complete we could not go home, so to see those gains was a mixture of feeling, 1. closer to home 2. closer to surgery

[Early Kids]

Our NICU CPAP didn't bother me so much because at least you could still see most of their face, I've seen some where the snorkel is in front of them and it covers the whole face

Waiting to hold Brendan was torture, he was 5 days old when I got a 5 min cuddle while they changed his bedding in the humidicrib. With Tristan he was placed on my chest at birth, absolutely beautiful moment, even though short lived (he needed to be intubated).

I also became a pro changing nappies side on in the humidicrib Brendan was in his until about 3 weeks old, even then they didn't really want him out because he was only just 1600gm, they prefer them to be 1800gm.

Ah soo many memories.... the absolute best day was running out that door and putting Brendan in the car for his first car trip.

[Loula]

My baby is in now for severe respectiory Distress and is full term although on the mend. I know I will have many mixed memories. The lack of care and communication in the private sector where we were not encouraged to even place a hand in our Childs humidy crib in scn and the sheer tears of unbelievable gratitude for the kindness in NICU when asked if we would like to change his nappy and the later was the second experience?? Where his condition was worse. Very different worlds. I'm sure I will have many more memories to come over the next few days

[maz]

I remembered another one as I went and found Mateauz NICU memory box.....weighing our nappies...I can giggle about it now but I use to hang on seeing how much 'output' he had.

SCN Loula was the same here hon...I had to fight to hold let alone BF Mateauz yet when I got to Melbourne the first thing the nurse in the quarantine section at the Mercy did was ask me if I wanted to hold my baby....I cried and cried and she was there crying with me...I will never forget her face and how much love she gave me

honey

[Janie]

Lou, I'm so sorry you were treated so poorly in SCN . I will be forever grateful to all of the nurses who encouraged me to do Daniel's cares, when I was nervous in the early days. He was so small! And I was so worried I would spill precious EBM when feeding him etc. But it makes such an enormous difference to how you cope, being able to do things for your baby, it is sooo important.

[DaintreeDream]

Lou, my eldest Matilda was also a term baby who was admitted due to severe respiratory distress, I am sorry that you are walking this path and that the nurses treated you so poorly. Never be afraid to ask for anything you feel you need, I found that only once I started asking did I find that I was able to do (more than I realised) meaning; cares, holding baby, I found that most of the nurses had no idea what it felt like to have a baby in NICU and therefore didn't understand that something as simple as a touch meant so much. I hope your little boy is at home in your arms soon .

[butterfly_warrior]

Lou, I'm really sorry to hear that you've had such poor care.

We were only in SCN, not NICU, but I found that the prevailing attitude would vary depending on which nurse was on duty. There were some that frowned upon us spending time in there with our boy, some that seemed to think that he belonged more to the nursery and them than he did to us. But others who were wonderful, caring, considerate and were just absolutely amazing in every way.

BW

[melbel]

Ditto both BW and DD.....I found over our few days in SCN that most of the nurses were great but there were a few who were lacking in the empathy department. I have been reliving and analysing our experience over the past couple of days with Lou being in the same hospital we were and I have come to realise like you DD that it wasn't that the nurses were stopping us doing things for our babies it was more that they didn't realise we had no idea what we were allowed to do especially being first time mums as well as being first time mums of a sick baby.....we had no idea where the boundaries were, whether it was okay to pick him up or touch him in the crib or change his nappy. It was only when we started asking questions more and aksing if we could do things that more of a rapport was formed and communication was improved. i think sometimes they become so focussed on the baby that they forget there are parents attached. I think if it had been my second i woulf have known more and demanded more...as it was i was like a deer in the headlights and it was like a catch 22 situation...the middies on the ward didnt know what to with a patient without a bubba so they pretty much left us to our own devices and the SCN nurses were focussed on the baby and assumed the middies on the ward were showing/telling us what we needed to know and so between the two the parents were getting left out of the equation somewhat.

My memories are mixed......I cannot fault the care of my little boy, I wish the longterm outcome had been different as he still wont take the breast at six months after being force bottle fed for those days but I know that in reality there was no other realistic option for treatment of his particular issue....I wish syringe feeding had been an option and maybe if he had not had such stubborn hypoglycaemia, syringe feeding might have been an option but as it was he needed such large volumes that this would have been totally unworkable.

I wish we had been able give him his first bath at our days of age instead of watching as a SCN nurse do it....all little things compared to the fact we got to take home a live healthy baby at the end of it but things that bother me nonetheless.

[black_rose]

The smell of the hand sanitiser always brings back strong memories especially this time having had all three in the nursery. The one thing I wish they had was an induction - here is where everything is and this is what you can and can't do. We kind of felt a bit lost first time around. We learnt from other parents and one or two midwives. The second stays were much easier as I already knew the routines. We always tried to help out parents who seem lost if we could.

[Loula]

I will write more from home when I am there as I know I will need to get this all down and advise from mums that gave been there iykwim?

But I am very open to ask questions and have worked in icu in londons biggest hospital be it as parent support and assistance to play spec.

But when I ask scn staff how my son is I expect more than plodding along as the reply with no eye contact while he thrashes around in his crib trying to breath. Knowing that no medical staff as a pead or dr have even looked at him or reviewed his blood work in 8 hrs then to finally get hold of the pead and be told everything g is good. To go back 1/2 hr later and a nurse says he now needs breathing support WTF? Then when speaking to the same pead be told that it's too late to discuss and this baby got dumped in him was just too much for me to bear. ESP as it was my mum that picked up the distress in the first place!!!

Sorry this is still too raw at the moment. My case was not that the staff were unaware that we were first time parents needing to be assisted. They forget we were even human!

I was also laughed at when I asked one do you think he is in pain?