Life in the NICU

So whenever I talk to anyone on the phone they always have questions about "what it's like" to be in the NICU.  This post is dedicated to describing our routine here at Children's Hospital - OSF St. Francis in Peoria. The NICU can care for up to 60 babies and each baby has a private room in what they refer to as a "neighborhood", which is a sweet of rooms.

Below are two pics of Leo's room.  The parent area has a couch with storage behind it and under it and a cabinet.  There is also a rocking chair.  The rest of the room is dedicated to Leo's bed, a sink and a work area for the doctors.  There is a big open space, but it fills up quick when they drag in x-ray machines or the doctors bring the interns. They are pretty strict about what and who can come in the room.  We can't have any food or plants and drinks must have a lid.  We can use computers and cell phones, but they stay 3 feet away from his bed.  Anyone who enters the NICU from outside the hospital must "scrub in" which is basically like the hand/arm scrubbing you see on TV and it lasts 2 minutes.  When you stay here, you just need to do it once a day.  They are huge on Purrrell. They put it on before and after they touch anything! Up to four people are allowed to visit a room at one time.

Sammie has not been in to see Leo yet.  She has not asked any questions about the baby so we are waiting until he is healthier before we introduce them. The rules technically say a kid must be 3 to come back to a room, but it kind sounds like we could get around that as long as she has a mask on, but I'm not for sure.

Since we can't have food in our rooms, we eat in the "family dining room".  As you can tell its really small and can be a little awkward with lots of parents from all walks of life crammed in. One parent gets 3 free meals a day and room service delivers them to this room.  The food is pretty good. There are two community bathrooms and a lactation room to pump or wash the equipment if you choose to use it.

Each baby is assigned a nurse and they normally work 12 hours shifts from 7 to 7.  Overall, our nurses have been great! For the most part we rarely have the same nurse twice since there are over 100. Parents can request a "core" team of nurses, but we haven't done that. When he is eating, the nurses do an assessment on him and change his diaper every 2 hours, but when he is not eating they only do it every 4 hours.  However, they are normally in here much more often because there is usually some alarm going off that some sensor is not working. They have a computer and desk right outside his room and a window so they can look at his stats and see him without coming in.  He is also assigned a respiratory therapist who suctions him and checks his oxygen every 3 to 4 hours.

The doctors start rounds everyday at 9:00, but can show-up anytime between 9:00 and 3:00.  Usually if there is a concern they are here by 11:00. Each doctor has a resident and the resident normally stops by before rounds and then during rounds resident basically presents her assessment of the current situation to the doctor.  She also reads off all his stats, medicines and lab tests.  At the end they are really good about letting us ask questions.  Leo's surgeon also drops by every morning usually between 7:00-9:00.  On the weekends we still see Leo's resident during the day, but the doctor is whoever is on call.  At night they have nurse practitioners who make most of the decisions, but there is also an on-call doctor if needed. 

Terry and I basically have a schedule worked out where we are both here from 8:00 - 3:00ish and then one of us takes off for home to be with Sammie. She basically sees one of us each night during the same time we are normally home from work.  The person who stays just sleeps in Leo's room on the couch.  They do have 6 parent rooms with a twin size bed and TV that you can request.  They also have showers with them.  We have only requested one of the rooms when we both stayed.  I feel like it somewhat defeats the purpose of staying if you are not in the same room as him, but at the same time, uninterrupted sleep is helpful from time to time.

Family dining room where we eat.  Has an ice machine, fridge and is stocked with drinks and a few snacks:

The parent side of Leo's room:

View from the parent side of Leo's bed and the computer the doc/nurses use during rounds: