#Spent 5 damn days in the hospital & she spent one in the nicu

[womaninthehighlands]

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[iamtrebleclefstories]

Every Day I Love You More - Ch. 5

Chapter 5 - YOU DIDN’T KNOW? 

After having drunk sex, Jo and Alex are having a baby. An actual baby. Here’s how everyone finds out.

-Sequel to I’m Happy Right Here with You-

Alex slips up, more people find out. 

It had been three days since Callie found out about Jo’s pregnancy and there had been no shortage of teasing remarks from Callie and Cristina. Every time Jo or Alex were left in a room with either of them, they were forced to hear the endless jokes being made about them and their drunk sex baby. Jo found it funny if she was being honest. The lightheartedness of this pregnancy was so refreshing considering what happened the last time. The jokes were a welcome distraction from the fact that Jo was in the process of filing from divorce from Paul and her lawyer was going to submit those papers by the end of the week.

That morning, she’d woken up before Alex did, which wasn’t unusual. However, for the first time in weeks, she woke up without the sudden need to vomit. She laid there on her side and stared at his sleeping form for a while longer. It was surreal waking up next to him. This morning especially so, since it wasn’t clouded by overwhelming nausea. Jo was convinced that there was no way that this was her real life. She had to be dreaming.

She had been stroking his hair for a few minutes when Alex spoke, “You know, watching people sleep is kind of creepy.”

Alex opened his eyes only to find Jo rolling hers, “Can’t you be normal and just say, ‘Good morning, babe. I love you and I can’t believe you’re carrying our baby.’ Can’t you do that?”

“Good morning, babe. I love you and I can’t believe you’re carrying our baby,” Alex gave Jo a quick kiss as Jo gave him a look of annoyance. “Hey! You’re not throwing up today. That’s a good sign.”

“Yup,” Jo nodded. “I feel great, actually. I think the baby finally decided to cooperate.”

Alex placed his hand on her flat stomach, “I can’t wait until you have a bump.”

“You mean until I get fat? Honestly, neither can I,” Jo smiled. “But Lucy said it might be a while before I start showing. I have a retroverted uterus so I’ll probably start showing later than most women. But I guess that’s a good thing. The longer I can hide my pregnancy, the less of a chance for Paul to find out and try plea presumed paternity and make our lives a mess.”

“He can try and try, but he won’t win, Jo. This is our kid and if we need to do a paternity test to prove it, then we will. He has no rights here,” Alex assured.

Jo took a deep breath and thought of how supportive Alex had been ever since she had confessed to him about her marriage. She exhaled, “You’re right. He has no rights. This baby is ours and he can’t take it away from us.”

They laid in the bed for a few more minutes in silence before deciding it was time to get up and get ready. After having been on Peds for over a month now, Jo had switched onto a different service for the next couple weeks. A part of Jo was a bit disappointed that she wouldn’t get to spend the entire day with Alex anymore, but she supposed she should be excited for a chance to learn something new. For the next two weeks, she’d be on neuro with Derek Shepherd.

When Jo and Alex arrived at the hospital, they parted ways and Jo went down to the residents’ lounge. She smiled as she saw her friends getting changed into their scrubs for the day. Jo grabbed a clean pair of scrubs and started to change clothes. Just as she was pulling her shirt off, she heard Stephanie whistle.

“Damn, Jo. Did you do anything different? Because your boobs look great,” Stephanie commented.

“Oh,” Jo laughed awkwardly. “It’s just a new bra… is all. Ever since Alex and I got together, I decided to update some pieces of my wardrobe if you know what I mean.”

“Look at Jo, trying to be all sexy for her man,” Stephanie teased.

“I bet he loves it,” Leah wiggled her eyebrows. “How many times a day do you catch him staring at your boobs in that thing?”

“Way too often,” Jo admitted.

The girls laughed and continued to get dressed. Once ready, Jo made her way to the Neuro ICU where she’d be meeting Dr. Shepherd for rounds. It had been a while since she had been on a neurosurgery, so Jo was excited for the next couple of weeks. The first patient she’d be rounding on was a trauma that came in last night. The man had massive internal injuries that were addressed immediately after coming into the hospital. He had not been stable enough last night to take in for surgery that would stop a slowly growing brain bleed, so Dr. Shepherd would take him in first thing this morning to correct it.

“Wilson. It’s good to have you on my service again,” Derek smiled as they walked out of the patient’s room. “How are you doing? I haven’t really gotten a chance to speak with you since you and Karev got together. He’s been hogging you to his service.”

“I doing great,” Jo grinned. “Excited to be on neuro again.”

“Well, you will be getting just a bit of peds today,” Derek shared. “We’ve got a baby with spina bifida that we’ll be working on this afternoon with Karev. Are you thinking about going into peds?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Jo shrugged. “I like everything. I do love peds, but who knows? Maybe I’ll end up in cardio or neuro or ortho. Don’t tell Alex I said that, though. I think he’s trying to be my Robbins.”

“No worries. Your secret is safe with me,” Derek chuckled. “Come on, let’s go. We’ve got a brain bleed to stop and a couple aneurysms to clip before our fun spina bifida surgery.”

The day went by pretty smoothly for the most part. The guy with the brain bleed came out of surgery without any major deficits. Jo had assisted in a couple aneurysm clippings and now they were on their way to the pediatric wing to visit the spina bifida baby in the NICU. When Derek and Jo arrived, Alex was already giving the parents a brief rundown of what their baby—Brandon’s—surgery would entail. Derek explained the procedure in a bit more detail and encouraged the parents not to fear.

While Jo prepped the patient, Derek and Alex prepared to scrub in together. Alex looked up at the older man, "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, Karev. What is it?" Derek nodded.

"Has Jo been okay today? I'm just wondering because she looked a little dizzy and unsteady this morning before we left the house," Alex inquired.

"She's seemed alright to me," Derek encouraged. "We've performed quite a few surgeries today and she hasn't swayed once. Why is something wrong?"

"No," Alex shook his head. "I was a little worried. She just got over the morning sickness a couple days ago and it was pretty hard on her. I didn't want the next thing to be dizzy spells that could affect her work."

Unsure what to do with the new information he'd received, Derek just decided to go about the conversation as if he know what was going on, "Oh, well she's fine. Great even."

Alex nodded thankfully as Derek mulled over Karev's words. Alex must've thought that Derek already knew about Wilson's pregnancy from Meredith, so he decided to go about the procedure as if nothing had happened. The surgery was successful and Derek decided that he'd let Wilson leave early. Everything else could wait until tomorrow.

As he arrived home that night, Derek kissed his wife and kids. He ate something quickly and spent the next few hours on the phone with D.C. as they tried to come up with more plans about the brain mapping initiative. Finally, at around eleven o'clock, he was able to get ready for bed. Derek had been sitting in the bed reading a medical journal when Meredith walked into the room.

“How was your day?” Meredith asked as she climbed under the covers.

“It was good,” Derek smiled. “I had Wilson on my service today. She is a very good and capable resident. Incredibly sharp. We clipped a couple aneurysms, stopped a brain bleed, and operated on a little boy with spina bifida.”

“Awe, like Zola,” Meredith commented. “Sounds like you had a pretty calm day today. Those are nice when you come home to two kids under the age of three.”

“You are so right,” Derek nodded and gave Meredith a quick kiss. “Oh! I almost forgot. Why didn’t you tell me that Alex is having a kid?”

“What?” Meredith sat up from the bed. “What are you talking about?”

“Wilson is pregnant,” Derek stated. “Karev mentioned something about how he was glad that she was mostly over the morning sickness now. But he said he wanted to keep a close eye on her because this morning at the house she seemed a bit dizzy.”

“What?” Meredith was confused. “Wilson is pregnant?”

“Wait… You didn’t know?” Derek asked.

“Would I be reacting like this if I knew?” Meredith was shocked. There was no way one of her best friends was having a kid and she didn’t know about it. “No. There’s no way. Alex would tell me if he were having a kid. He’s one of my best friends.”

“I don’t know,” Derek shrugged. “He mentioned the morning sickness so casually, it was like he assumed I already knew. That or he slipped up and didn’t realize what he said.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Meredith jumped up from the bed. “I can’t sit here wondering. I’m going over there right now to find out.”

“Meredith! It’s midnight. Don’t go bother them. You’ll see them tomorrow,” Derek tried reasoning with his wife.

“I can’t wait,” Meredith shook her head as she threw on a pair of jeans. “This is huge. This is life changing, Derek. This cannot wait until tomorrow.”

Before long, Meredith was on her way to Alex’s house. When she parked in the driveway, she searched around her purse for the old set of keys to the house. Finding them, she made her way up the porch steps and let herself in through the glass door. She walked up the porch steps and stormed into Alex’s room yelling, “You guys are having a baby?”

Alex and Jo—who’d been sleeping peacefully—startled out of sleep. Jo screamed as she saw Meredith’s dark figure lingering by the door. Alex sat up quickly, trying to assess the situation and determine if they were in any immediate danger. Finally realizing it was Meredith, he slumped back down onto the bed, “Dude. What the hell? Why are you yelling?”

“Is it true? Wilson are you pregnant? Are you guys having a baby?” Meredith interrogated.

“What?” Jo said, distraught.

“Derek said that Alex mentioned how he was happy that your morning sickness was gone, so then he asked me if I knew that you guys are having a baby.”

“Shit… I didn’t even realize I said that,” Alex rubbed a hand over his face. “Jo, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to tell him.”

“It’s okay,” Jo shook her head.

“So, it is true?” Meredith asked. “You guys are having a baby! Alex, how could you have a baby and not tell me about it? This is huge!”

“What is going on?” Cristina had woken up to shouting coming from down the hall and came to investigate once she recognized her best friend’s voice.

“Did you know?” Meredith turned to Cristina.

“Did I know what?” Cristina made a face. “And why are you screaming?”

“Did you know that Alex is going to be a father?” Meredith demanded.

Cristina froze, eyes wide, “Um…”

“Oh my God! You knew and you didn’t tell me,” Meredith accused. “I can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me this. I had to find out about it from my husband.”

“Hold on, you told Derek before telling Meredith?” Cristina looked at Alex. “That’s a crappy move, man. Even for you.”

“I didn’t mean to tell Derek,” Alex defended. “I said something about Jo’s morning sickness and he must’ve thought that Meredith already knew.”

“Hello, pregnant person over here wants to speak,” Jo gathered everyone’s attention. “Look, Dr. Grey. We didn’t want to tell anyone until I hit twelve weeks. I’m sure you can understand that. Yang found out because she lives here and saw the pregnancy test boxes in the trash, and Torres found out because I had to leave the room for an x-ray. I’m sorry you had to find out like this, but if it makes you feel any better, there’s an ultrasound picture on the fridge downstairs.”

“Even Callie knows?” Meredith sighed. “Look, I’m sorry. I was just a little blindsided finding out this way. I’m happy for you two. I’m sure you are going to make wonderful parents. Wait, you said you have an ultrasound picture already? How far along are you?”

Jo grimaced, knowing that as soon as she shared how far along the was there would be a whole new slew of questions. Jo took a deep breath, "Just a bit over ten weeks."

"How are you ten weeks? My birthday was ten weeks ago and you guys weren't together then," Meredith scrunched her face. She lowered her voice and sat down in front of Jo. "Are you sure Alex is the father?"

"Mer!" Alex chastised.

"What? I'm making a valid question," Meredith lifted her hands in apology. "As far as I remember, Alex, you and I had a conversation at my birthday party where I told you that you were being stupid and to make a move because I couldn't stand seeing you pouting and staring from afar."

"We did?" Alex asked. "I don't remember."

"Well, yeah figures, because you were completely wasted," Meredith reminded. "So, explain this to me so I can understand."

Alex and Jo both sat in silence, reluctant to verbalize what had happened that night between the two of them. Cristina, on the other hand, had been waiting for a moment like this to present itself. Bursting at the seams, Cristina blurted, "They had drunk sex the night of your party and accidently made a baby."

Meredith stood there stunned for a moment before breaking out in laughter, "Oh my... oh my God… you guys… Haha, you made a drunk sex baby. you know I can't say I'm surprised that this is how you are becoming a father, Alex. It's karma for all those years of being a man-whore. You on the other hand, Wilson, you surprise me. Didn't think you had it in you."

Jo buried her face in her hands in embarrassment and Alex glared at Meredith and Cristina as he felt his face get hot. This was not how he had pictured Meredith finding out about his kid, but he guessed that there was really no other way that would feel like them. Alex was glad that Meredith knew, because now he could ask her tons of parenting advice and tips on dealing with the hormone changes Jo would be experiencing very soon.

"Wow. I can't believe it," Meredith said after calming down. "Alex Karev. In love. A father. you're all grown up. You see, I told you that Wilson would be good for you."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You were right," Alex grumbled. "Now get out of my room and go home."

"I'm not going home," Meredith stated. "I'll stay with Cristina. Now, Jo you said something about an ultrasound picture?"

"Yeah... it's downstairs on the refrigerator," Jo replied, removing the hands covering her face. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about hiding it when you come over."

Meredith smiled, grabbing Cristina by the arm to drag her down the stairs to look at the sonogram. Just as Meredith was about to leave the room, she popped her head back in the doorway, "Oh and just so you know, I fully expect to get a copy of every ultrasound photo from here on out."

"Get out!" Alex huffed.

"Goodnight," Meredith grinned.

[zombiescominginmywindow]

I typed out Holly’s birth story, mostly so I’d have it to look back on. If anyone’s interested, here ya go 😊 sorry for any TMI bits, I just wrote everything in as much detail as I could remember.

Holly Annabelle was born 3/10/20 at 35 weeks gestation. She weighed 5 lbs 11 oz and was 18” long. Her birth could best be described as “fast and furious”.

My water broke at 4:30am that morning, a Tuesday. I woke up to the feeling of a “blob” of wetness coming out of me. The thought flashed through my head, “no way”. I shuffled around a bit in bed; another blob. As I slowly stood up, fluid started gushing. I ran/waddled to the bathroom as fast as I could with my hand between my legs trying to catch the water 😂 I called the after-hours line to see if I should go to the hospital, as I wasn’t having contractions, and they said to go in. I woke Jake up at 5 to let him know. Our bags were already packed besides toiletries (which we had just done a few days ago, along with just having installed the car seat on Sunday!) so we threw our bags together and got to the hospital by 5:45am. By the time we were parking, I was starting to have some decent contractions. When we got in an exam room around 6am and they checked me, I was already 5cm dilated. Contractions were rapidly picking up and becoming extremely painful, with about 1.5-2 minutes in between. We were moved to a delivery room and by this time I was absolutely beside myself with the pain. Contractions were virtually nonstop - I had maybe 10-20 seconds in between them and could hardly catch my breath. I basically made wild animal noises while curled against the frame of the bed (and briefly had the thought that I wished I had had the chance to learn some breathing exercises or coping mechanisms before all this - our childbirth class wasn’t until the 23rd) until the anesthesiologist showed up at 7:30. Jake later told me that my nurse yelled at him for taking so long because I was apparently worrying everyone with how fast and active my labor was. Sitting on the edge of the bed while he took (what felt like) his sweet ass time getting that epidural in me was a nightmare. But by 8am I had the blessed epidural and was a happy little clam, I couldn’t feel a thing and my whole mood turned right around. They checked me again and I had dilated to 8. At this point both our moms were in the room and I was carrying on a conversation and smiling with them.

Around 9:35 I felt some pressure in my pelvis and bottom and when the doctor checked me she exclaimed that the baby’s head was “RIGHT there” and it was time to push. Our moms were quickly ushered out of the room and Jake and I exchanged bewildered looks - this was happening so fast! I pushed only three times (blissfully didn’t feel a damn thing) and our tiny nugget was born at 9:49am, only 5 hours after my water broke.

I knew that she was going to have to go to the NICU due to being a 35 weeker. She spent the first 36 hours of life in the NICU but never needed help breathing, eating or regulating her temp. We had one small scare where she spit up a decent amount and started to choke on it, but nurses were already in the room and quickly got her airway cleared out. We all came home Thursday the 12th. We aren’t able to successfully breastfeed yet, so I’ve been pumping and bottle feeding, but she hasn’t needed formula since we left the hospital. Not gonna lie, I do hate pumping passionately, although I’m learning to live with it for now. I want nothing more than to be able to breastfeed my baby, and we are working on it, although the current COVID situation has left us unfortunately unable to meet with a lactation consultant. I’m hoping as she gets closer to her due date we’ll be able to make EBF a reality. She’s gaining weight well and doing great at home, although her main hobby right now is sleeping! We are totally in love with her!

[and28if]

The Elephant in the NICU

No, I am not referring to my newborn son, Nicolo, as an Elephant. Although he certainly is one of the larger babies enjoying a NICU stay. What I am referring to is, in fact, the proverbial “elephant” in the room...the fact that two years later I find myself once again sitting by my son’s bedside in the NICU. I’m watching the same monitor, listening to the same beeps and washing my hands with the same dreadful soap. No, that’s not true, I think the soap is different. I find the smell of this particular soap to be less nauseating. But soap aside, it feels like home. I know that might sound strange and it does to me too. 

Nicolo was delivered via scheduled c-section at 37 weeks. From my first doctor’s appt, I knew that this would be the plan. Since Rocco was born via classical c-section, meaning a horizontal and vertical cut, they could not let me go into labor on my own...risk of uterine rupture...blahity blah blah. Anywho, Nicolo was quickly diagnosed with TTN (transient tachypnea of the newborn). Basically, it means fast breathing. Some babies that don’t get to experience the natural progression of labor and are born via c-section are left with wetness in their lungs which can cause TTN. TTN normally resolves within 72 hours after birth. We are currently a little past that point and it is resolving...just not as quickly as I would like. The doc said she has seen it “take a few weeks.” I obviously don’t prefer that, but like I said...technically we are home...just in our NICU home. 

My doctors warned me in the weeks leading up to my delivery...“Don’t be concerned at 37 weeks, your son might see the NICU for a few days.” I wasn’t concerned. “He’s going to be a little early, so there is a chance he may need to go to the NICU.” I got it, again not concerned. “NICU nurses will be in the delivery, just in case.” That’s great...I wasn’t and am not concerned. NEWS ALERT: Yes, I endured a traumatic experience with Rocco and yes, he happened to be in the NICU for 5 months. But, doctors, nurses, family, friends and random passers-by on the street: You can remove your kid gloves. I have endured a war and promise you, I can handle anything, especially a repeat visit to the NICU. At the NICU your child will receive the best care (starting to sound like a PSA) and if you’ve spent as much time there as we did, you are practically a celebrity. I know that sounds mildly terrible and lacks a bit of sensitivity, but fuck...it’s nice to know so many people and to have so many people excited for something positive finally happening in your life. So yes, John and I entered the NICU on Friday night without a hint of anxiety and that had nothing to do with the Ativan that John was popping that day. In fact, I was overwhelmed by a feeling a calm...like “ahhh, I’m home.” I know what to expect here. I know what it feels like to be here and I know how prepared I felt to leave here. Can you imagine the freaks John and I would have been taking a baby straight home from the hospital? I mean it would have been fine, but after Rocco we are pretty damn paranoid. And, we would have second guessed every single sniffle and sound. Yes, this is definitely me bright-siding the situation that I am currently in, but the comfort that we feel here is 100% true and when he is ready to go home (to our real home)...we will get to leave with a full medical work-up and no questions or concerns. Not a bad way to transition home if you ask me. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking to enjoy this NICU stay-cation for long, but if we need to be here for week...I’ll continue to enjoy catching up with old friends and will take the 5 not-so-great months I spent here 2 years ago and end them on a positive note by taking my new, awesome baby boy home.

[realnixainley]

Once again I find myself alone, staring at the ceiling of a hospital room. This time there is nothing but stoney silence. It’s a weird silence. An unknown silence after the chaos of the last 24 hours…I’m not sure what to think. I’m full of emotions and my mind is racing at a million miles yet numb at the same time.

I try to reach over to get a drink of water off my table but I’m stopped sharp as pain shoots through my body. My stomach feels wretched, the stabbing pain is relentless. My abs clearly don’t exist and I’m doing everything not to use them.

I try to push myself up with my arms but I’m met with pain on both sides. ‘Damn it!’ I mumble as pain shoots up both arms. One is from the cannula (some bright eyed person put it right on the crease of my wrist and I’m stabbed every time I use my hand), the other arm…I don’t know. There’s a deep shooting pain that takes my breath away every time I move!  If it wasn’t my right side I’d say I’m having a heart attack! Nothing but pain when I take a breath or lift my arm.

‘F**k this’ I yell in frustration and pain!

It’s ok to yell now. I’m in my own room. A moment of grace came my way when I returned from seeing the boys for the first time as I was moved to a private room in the public maternity ward. It’s a blessed feeling not to have to listen to everyone else’s babies making me want mine more. Yet somehow, it’s incredibly lonely!

I had left them in the NICU just before dinner. I’ve quickly learnt that it is an ongoing heartache every time I have to leave them. We are allowed to visit regularly through the day but I need my rest to recover myself too.

It’s now night again. After something that resembled food (and makes the private hospital look like the Hilton), I find myself back within my thoughts staring blankly at the food network…again.

I buzz the nurse for some pain killers. I try to ask her what is causing the pain in my arm, she shrugs it off and says it’ll go away soon. After a heated discussion about my pain plan not being adequate in which she disagreed, she asked me how the expressing was coming along….the whatty?????

“Oh has no one been through this with you yet?’ (clearly…no!) It’s what you need to do to get the breast feeding under way.”

For a moment I thought this nurse had gone cray cray…um last time I checked my babies were being tube fed in a box where I can’t touch them and they can’t suck, swallow, breath? umm…did I miss something?

‘It’s important you start stimulating the breast’ she said ‘to try and get as much colostrum as possible into the babies milk! It’s the….”

‘ I know what it is!’ I bluntly replied. ‘what am I supposed to do?”

‘Has no one gone through this with you?’ She said.

My blank, expressionless face must have answered he question as she ducked off out of the room and moments returned with a bucket full of stuff.

At this point in time the nurse began to explain how they needed to try and get the expressing process under way and that I had to start getting tiny amounts of colostrum from my boobs to try and put into the boys feed.

It made sense but the process is bloody difficult. I was talked through a combination of massaging, squeezing and awkwardly handling my boobs to try and syringe off a ml or 2 of colostrum.

To be honest I found it an incredibly disheartening process. Every few hours I’d try all these different techniques for a damn ml or 2 but I was told to keep going!! So I did. Waking myself every few hours in the middle of the night, trying to express a tiny bit here and there for my babies upstairs. It was hard…bloody hard. One nurse said to me think of your babies and it helps…I don’t think she realised I didn’t really know them yet I was only seeing them for 20 mins here and there!

The next few days became routine pretty quickly. The boys appeared to be stabilising which was great. I spent almost every moment I could sitting by their side. Fully wheelchair bound, I was unable to get to see them without assistance so if Chris or my family weren’t there the hospital simply didn’t have the resources to help me get up to see them. I found this incredibly frustrating!

While I knew my babies were in the best of hands, my experience of the hospital was the opposite. In fact recovery for me went sharply down hill in the first few days. A lack of food (I was once given one round egg on a plate for breakfast. That’s it nothing else), extreme pain management, extreme pain and exhaustion from the emotion of babies in NICU, not to mention the endless battle to get a ml or 2 of colostrum, I was fading fast in hospital.

I know hospitals are grossly under staffed and I know they are doing their best but I was honestly appalled at some of the treatment I received. No pain killers. Missed meals. No assistance to carry heavy breast feeding boxes back and forth straight after a c-sect, no assistance to get in and out of bed, a cannula left in my wrist for days on end causing more and more pain, shooting pain in my right arm that I was told to forget about and the list goes on. The breaking moment for me was when I spilt some water on the ground. I called the nurse as I was worried I’d slip. She looked at it and left it! Chris cleaned it up when he arrived back.

As the boys continued to gain strength the question then arose of the possibility of being moved back to the private hospital. This thought came as a delight to me! I’d been at the end of my tether with the place when I left but now it looked like paradise. I missed the friendly reliable staff. The predicable but more than satisfactory food, the individual assistance and overall the whole place! I couldn’t believe I missed it!!!

4 days after the boys were born and a ray of light came our way after we were told the Private had enough room for the boys to be transferred to their special care. They had the humidicribs for them, the boys were doing exceptionally well with stabilising so they may even be out of them soon and all in all we had the green light to transfer back! I’ve never been more excited to go to a hospital!

The next morning was transfer day. Little did I know this was an almighty process in itself. We packed my room and discharged. Chris had my things and I was to be transported with the babies! Now bare in mind it’s only a 5 min drive or 20 min walk between the 2 hospitals. However it quickly became apparent that this was a million mile mission.

I made it up to the NICU at around 10am to find an ambulance driver, doctors, a paramedic (apparently specially trained in baby transport) and nurses galore. It was an epic process in handing over docs, getting monitors ready and charts organised.  Then we had to get each of the babies into the special humidicribs on a special stretcher to be transported to the ambulance!

It was unbelievable, but soon I found myself being pushed behind a trolly of cribs and monitors down to an ambulance. The stretcher was locked into the back of the ambulance with the medic monitoring the boys constantly! It was a very impressive sight and one hell of a process to get from hop A to B! It was unbelievable! All in all it took us around 4 hours!

I’ll never forget that moment I walked back into the private hospital. The boys had been taken ahead and were being settled in their care unit, Chris had already arrived with my bags and headed to my new room. he came to meet me at the ambulance and as I was pushed back into the private I was overcome with emotion. The familiar nurses faces, the friendly chorus welcoming me back and the comforting smell. I was instantly relieved…I was home…well almost, and I knew now we would be ok.

    A Tale of Twins – Part 4 Once again I find myself alone, staring at the ceiling of a hospital room. This time there is nothing but stoney silence.