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

[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.