Liam got moved to a big boy crib today! It was such a sweet surprise when I came in for visitation this morning. He's looking more like a baby every day- clothes, now in a crib. It's funny how little things like that can make such a big difference- it can make you feel like you're making progress to getting your baby home.
And Liam loooooves his new digs. He has a better view of the room around him now since the top is completely open- he spent a long time just looking around checking out everything that was different. He also has a cushier mattress too, so he settled into a long nap for pretty much the rest of the day- he was in heaven!
The morning was pretty uneventful except for during the break when I was in the cafeteria grabbing a snack. A Code Pink got called over the public address system- which means a baby is unaccounted for. They provide the description of the baby and the blanket and ask that all doors are secured. Immediately the hospital was in lockdown. Employees that travel the corridors stopped at the nearest exit doors and took post. A guy was even looking into trash cans and in bathrooms. After what seemed like forever they finally called the all-clear. It's nice to know my baby is tucked away in a secure NICU (and he's tethered to all kinds of tubes and wires- kinda hard to take off with a NICU baby!). I asked our nurse later if it was just a drill or if a baby really was missing. She said usually what happens is a dad will forget where they are and are not allowed to go with a nursery baby and then the nurse reports the baby missing. Those poor dads!
Liam's stats for today- 6 lbs 11 oz (which is up and I'm surprised after how much came out in his dirty diaper yesterday). He had another suppository today but managed to squeeze it back out twice. The second time had some substance with it, so the nurse counted it as a dirty diaper so we can try to move right along to feedings. Still no word on when that is exactly. The fluid coming out of his tube today was definitely more clear and less plentiful. Still on track!
I attended my first House meeting where they go over some events coming up, courtesy reminders, and information about the house and services we're enjoying. Today they told us little background stories about the different donors that have sponsored rooms or areas of the house. Some rooms are sponsored by employees of companies, other by trusts and foundations, and some even by families that have used the RMH services. A big misconception is that the Ronald McDonald Houses are funded by the McDonald's Corporation- but they are not. It takes nearly $710,000 to run the house annually and it all comes from public and private donors. They suggest families make a $10 per night donation if they are able, but no one is turned away if they cannot pay (this is where the Share-A-Room sponsorship comes into play- people can pay for a family's stay). Three hundred dollars pays for a family to stay at the house for an entire month. Not much to ask when it actually takes $2,000a month each to run the rooms, the difference is made up by donors. Steve and I keep discussing different ideas about how we can give back to the house- there's so much to choose from at all different monetary levels which makes giving easy for any kind of budget.
Riley was away at his other house for the rest of the week (which is always hard to see him go) but on the bright side, I got to spend some extra afternoon hours just holding Liam, singing him songs and reading to him. He fell asleep but I won't take that personally. :)
Steve came over after work again and we went up together for the night visit. He loved getting to see the new crib and even assisted on changing the evening diaper. I think he would be more brave about changing diapers, but Liam has now shot at me twice and I think Steve would rather I stay in the line of fire for now. He got a great cuddle in with Liam before returning him to his crib for the night. We left Liam with his own crib soother from our house (now that he's in a real crib!). It's an under-sea theme with fish that swim by and it plays either music or water sounds. Since he loved looking around and at the iPhone when I showed him pictures, I thought he might like something interesting to look at when we weren't there. It would also be something familiar that will come home with him that might make the transition from NICU to his room a little easier.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves...
No comments:
Post a Comment