#NICUhumor

We got to the NICU that afternoon. The NICU is about 20 mins from our house. When we got there Lyla was in the "open" room where there is room for 7 babies and they keep the most critical babies there. Only 2 people were allowed to see her at a time and one had to be a parent. Rem and I went back and left mom in the waiting room. I hated seeing my precious little girl with monitors on her. As we held her we had to be careful with the cords. We stayed till 6pm which was shift change. Every morning and evening the NICU would go on lock down from 6-8 during shift change. That meant either we had to stay there and be stuck or leave and couldn't get back in till 8. We decided to get dinner. At 8 Rem's parents met us there. Lyla had been moved to a private room by this point. They went back first so Rem and his father could give Lyla a blessing. I've always been thankful for the knowledge that I have about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I've also been blessed to have such nice in laws. That night my gratitude grew even more for my faith and especially my father in law and my husband. Not every child is born into a stable, loving family. But Lyla is one lucky girl! Rem and I stayed the night at the NICU that first night. That place is not meant for adults to be comfy! But we didn't feel like we could go home.

The next day we didn't learn much about Lyla's status. We thought we'd just be there for a day or 2. But our nurse that day told us it looked like Lyla would need antibiotics for 5-7 days. Worst case scenario was she might have meningitis and she'd need to be treated for 21 days. We debated whether we would stay the night again. I didn't want to leave her. Breastfeeding wasn't going well but I wanted to be there to try. Our sweet nurse that day kindly told us to go home and rest. So we did. I hated it. As I laid in bed that night trying to fall asleep, I could hear Lyla crying. It felt like torture. I cried myself to sleep that night as Rem held me. As I cried, I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to let Lyla stay with us. I couldn't handle losing Lyla. I got some sleep that night. But all I could think about was how I didn't understand why our little girl wasn't home with us yet.

(Now I'm kicking myself bc its 6 months later and I'm finishing this- Ok well now it's 7 months later)

The next morning (which was Saturday by now - my dad came on Friday afternoon) Rem and I went back to the hospital and left mom and dad at home. We spent time with Lyla, even though she mostly slept and attempted to eat. It was so strange that our little girl was in the NICU. She was, by medical standards, a term baby. She didn't look sick and to us didn't act sick. Why couldn't we just take her home? The empty car seat taunted me every time we got in my car. Mom and dad brought us lunch and hung out for a little bit till Rem's parents got there. In the NICU only parents and immediate grandparents were allowed. A max of 4 adults could be in the room at one time (annoying bc we had to make our parents take turns). We did have the option to put 4 additional visitors on our visitors list but we have several family members on Rem's side close and then friends. We didn't know how to narrow the list to just 4 people. We didn't want to offend anyone. So we said forget the list of additional visitors.

Thankfully that evening, we had been invited to a surprised birthday party for my prego twin, Courtney (Sara you were my prego twin too! Courtney's baby Audrey shares the same bday as Lyla. Sara had Mavrick about 36 hours after I had Lyla- in the same hospital! ;) Court and I traded late night texts the night after our babies were born. If only we could have waddled to the nursery at 2 am together!). Since Court had a baby (by c section!) the same day as I, I couldn't help but wonder if she really wanted company. At first I dismissed the invite bc my parents were here. Then the more I thought about, I decided I needed something to lift my spirits. Rem and I went to dinner with my parents and then to visit Courtney. I remember getting ready that night. My emotional state was just a tad unstable (thick sarcasm) and a 3 day post baby body is not fun to dress. I must have changed a dozen times. I needed to get ready quickly but I kept wandering back into my closet trying to find something else to wear. (Sorry if you just think I'm vain --which I'll own up to. But my blog is kinda my journal so I like to capture details I know will make me laugh later.) Finally I said forget it and decided I was wearing my jeggins that Rem hates with a passion. Honestly, those jeggins should not be worn in public, but I had to stop caring so much or I would have never left the house that evening. Also side note-- our dear friends Mark and Renee asked if we wanted to have a date night that evening. Even though we didn't go, it meant a lot to me that they thought of us. We ditched my rents and went to Court's. I was still in pain and so was Court. But we celebrated not being prego with a hug and pain meds. Lol. I'm really glad we got to see some of our friends that night. I really needed it.

The next morning (Sunday) we decided we'd play hookey from church. We were thankful for all the love we had been shown, but we didn't want to answer the same questions a hundred times by different people. Plus we knew my dad would have to head home that afternoon. Dad came down to the hospital with us that morning. I think this pic is from that day. 

 (Guess I'll add that one later too..)

We said bye to my dad around lunch time and mom came down. After Rem's parents got out of church, they came by too. And we broke the NICU rules! We had 5 adults in Lyla's room. We were such rebels (thick sarcasm again). At that point, we thought Lyla might get to come home the next day. But info was coming very slowly. We kept asking the same questions- did the culture come back negative? What about the head ultrasound results? The replies we got were along the lines of "Let me check and I'll get back with you" LAIRS! It seemed no one could give us answers and that was so frustrating. Sunday evening it was apparent Lyla wasn't coming home yet. We decided it would be best for Rem to go back to work since my mom was here. And my MIL said she could take off to keep me company.

Monday Rem went to work and mom and I packed a lunch and headed to the hospital first thing. I always tried to be there right at 8 so maybe I could catch Lyla's first morning feed. Even when I called before heading down, it always happened that I never made it at the right time. The last 2 days Lyla was in the hospital, I decided I'd sleep in bc I wouldn't be doing that once Lyla got home. It was nice not killing myself trying to get to the hospital early only to discover Lyla had just finished eating. I believe it wasn't till Tuesday, I finally got confirmation that Lyla's head ultrasound was normal. But we were glad and were told Lyla would be released Wednesday! Finally someone explained to me that Lyla had originally shown signs that she was septic but she wasn't. My dear SIL Abigail understood this because she's a nurse but she didn't say anything because if that wasn't the case she didn't' want to be wrong. I refer to Abigail as "Nurse Abigail". I call her a lot with questions! Lyla had some unknown bacteria infection and ended up treating her as if she were septic. I really loved the nurse we had Monday and Tuesday that week. She was kind enough to make sure a lactation nurse came to see me again. She also answered my questions even though I know that's probably not typically part of her job. The nurse we had Wednesday was sweet to (for the record- all the nurses were helpful but the ones that checked on us more frequently were our favs.) us and was ready to get Lyla home. Which we really appreciated. Rem left work a little early to come help pack up Lyla. Putting her in real clothes for the first time was fun. I felt like I might break her tiny arms! The nurse sent us home with literally a trash bag full of formula, diapers and wipes.

I let out a big sigh of relief when I made it home with her safely. Our little girl was home and healthy!

7 months later, she's still healthy and growing like a weed. She learned how to army man crawl a couple weeks ago. Lyla's biggest crawling motivator- trying to catch Izzy or play in Izzy's food/water bowls! :)

Oh and the reason for the title of this post. When Lyla was in the hospital, Rem thought it was so funny to call the NICU a very expensive baby sitter. He even went so far to say that the next time we needed a sitter, we could just take her to the hospital and say something was wrong. Wrong- there is something wrong with Rem's brain! Who says stuff like that?! My dear husband. Who I still love with all my heart.

DM