Hospital and Home

So I'll back track just a little......

I cannot  express enough, the gratitude I feel towards the Special Care Nursery and Paediatric team at Nambour Hospital. No, my babies were not very sick, in fact they were wonderfully healthy, so I didn't have any stress about that, but I certainly did have extra attention from the trio's nursing team. They were amazingly supportive, attentive, caring, friendly and of course, professional. Here's a picture of some of the team with our little angels:

Left to Right: Annette, Dr. Henry, Theresa, Kerrin and Gemma. I was lucky enough to have two of these ladies in birth suite with me and the others joined me on the beginning of our journey in the SCN. I snapped these guys (much to their protests!) as they were coming on/off shift. Other wonderful staff that worked with the babies were Deb, Liz, Simone and Dr Claire. I'm terribly sorry if I have missed anyone, but from what I remember, these were the main people!

Here's a run down of our 6 days in hospital:

Day 1 Thursday: babies all having breast feeds but talk of nasal gastric tubes being put in on the next day or so as they drop weight and loose energy. All babies have IV lines is for antibiotics to counter any possible infection and monitors for their breathing and oxygen levels. Visitors included GG and Grandi, the kids, Emily, Danielle, Journalists and our new nanny Desiree

Day 2 Friday: much the same as the previous day, bloods come back negative for any infection but IVs will stay in for now. Visitors included Skye, Mick, Tammin and Blake, the TV crew and Grandi.

Day 3 Saturday: Deb plans out a schedule to help feed the babies as much as possible, nasal gastric tubes go in and my milk comes in fully so top up feeds are done after every breast feed. Some feeds are top up feeds (via nasal gastric tube) only so they don't use up the energy they gain from the milk. Isaac and Ailah have their first bath, Isaac loves it, Ailah hates it! Mummy gets to sleep through the midnight feed - the benefits of nasal gastric tubes!

Day 4 Sunday: IVs come out! Dylan and Ailah come off their big monitors and onto Graesby (sp?) monitors. Far less clutter in our corner now.

Day 5 Monday: Visited by Dr Claire at rounds who doesn't believe me when I say they won't need to stay another week.....Isaac comes off his Graesby monitor, but Dylan's SBR levels to check for Jaundice come back in the 'treatable' category do he goes into a 'billi bed' where the blue lights are encased in a pillowy bed and he can be wrapped in it. All babies are bathed today, and Ailah was much happier than the last time. Isaac starts pooing as I am about to put him in the bath - the nearest thing I could find to catch it was the bin! I go on my first outside trip to Big W with Daniel and Amali since having the babies. Feels strange - and it's so bright! Where's my sunnies?!

Day 6 Tuesday: I wake up to Mr Isaac having pulled his nasal gastric tube out! We deicde to keep it out and go on full breast feeds from now.The 'D' word (discharge) has been mentioned twice today....I'm starting to get excited and a little claustrophobic. Dylan's next SBR levels come back under the 'treatable' line, so he rejoins his brother and sister in the cot.

Day 7 Wednesday: This morning it was Ailah's turn to pull her nasal gastric tube out, so out comes Dylan's too! Graesby monitors are taken away as well, none of them have had an apnea episode anyway. Annette asks me if by some grace of God they allowed me home today, would I want to? Yes please!! She says 'look, I'll fall on the floor if they say yes, but I really can't see why not....' And what do you know, Dr Claire comes in for rounds, and cannot possibly believe how well they are doing, full breast feeds for 3 days with no or minimal weight loss. Her words 'go, just go, you're free!' I could have hugged her (probably should have), she says it's nothing short of a miracle how well they are doing and that there was no way she believed me on Monday! I look at Annette who was almost in tears (don't deny it!) with a huge smile on my face. We are going home!!!

 

 

So off we went! There was no crying on the way home, just a van, finally full of all the people it should be full of. Driving up our driveway was a wonderful feeling. Firstly, the last time I had driven along it I was having full on contractions, so this was a much comfier ride! Secondly, it was like I was seeing our property for the first time all over again. Nothing beats coming home. You couldn't have wiped the smiles of Daniel's and my faces even if you tried.

The babies were asleep when we pulled up, so we bought them in in their capsules and put them in the lounge room. Turned the cartoons on and away we went. Jordan took lots of photos and Amali wanted to touch, touch, touch!

5 days into being home and for the first night home they woke about every 3-3.5 hours at night and pretty much the same throughout the day. From then on they have been put down at night at 10ish, waking between 1am and 2am, then not til 5:30-6! Very, very lucky! Otherwise they sleep most of the day, it takes about an hour to feed them and change them, then pop them down for another sleep! I noticed today they were spending a little more time awake........