NICU Day 32

I've been at the hospital all day and am exhausted, so this is a short one.

The babies had their first eye exam today, hence me staying at the hospital. I wanted to be there (and Peter planned on leaving work early to try and get there). The nurses told us how horrible it was to watch, but we wanted to be the ones that comforted our babies afterwards, not to mention we wanted to know what they were going through.

The best part of being there all day was being able to hold them multiple times. That was just wonderful and totally unexpected. I went for the 11am/12pm care time like normal. At 1pm, I pumped and grabbed a quick bite to eat before being back for the 2pm care time for Maya, during which time I got to hold her again! 2:45 was shift change, so I went to the parent lounge, where I chatted with another mom, then back at 3:30 and held Bobby. At 4pm, the eye doctor called and told the nurse to dilate their eyes in preparation for the exam, so I put him back and she gave them the two rounds of eye drops. They didnt even cry. Such strong little ones...

Peter arrived prior to the doctor getting there, which was nice. The doctor came and did Bobby first, then Maya. It was a short procedure. They take these clamps and clamp the baby's eyes open (one at a time) and then shine a bright light in the eye to see the development of the retina and blood vessels. You are ranked 1-5 for how the blood vessels look, with one being normal and five being detached, then you are ranked 1-3 for development with 1 being underdeveloped and 3 being completely developed. At 3 months old, the perfect score is 1/3. At 1 month old, our babies scored 1/2, which is really good. Both are exactly where the doctor said they should be in their development. They will get checked every 2 weeks until they are 3 months old, score the 1/3, or show signs that they need intervention.

When the clamp went on, Bobby cried. Oh, it broke my heart. As soon as the procedure was done (about 30 seconds per eye), we were at his side. I put my hand on the top of his head and the other on his chest, where he grabbed my finger. And, amazingly, he stopped crying. And went back to sleep! In seconds! (Mind you, we'd been warned that babies usually cry and cry and have to be given sugar water to practically sedate them after this procedure.) I anticipated one of us going to Maya because one would stay with Maya, but we were both able to watch her procedure. She cried as well and, when it was over, the nurse picked her up, then gave her to me. She just held on and I gently swayed back and forth and told her it was okay and, again, no more tears. We were both really shocked at how well they did, compared to what we'd been told. Little champs. I know they were uncomfortable. After the exam, we did her diaper and temp, I pumped again, then we did his diaper and temp, and went to dinner. We came back for bath time and holdings, and their little eyes were still slightly puffy.

We got to give our first baths! I will post video of it, but our phones are downstairs right now. I bathed Maya and Peter bathed Bobby. Since I held them both quite a bit, Peter got to hold them both last night. Our first baths were successes! They didnt even cry, which was wonderful because, had they cried, I would have been right there with them! Maya was so upset at her bath on Friday that I was convinced she was going to be miserable, but nope! She did great! And Bobby also!

And, in even bigger news, guess what two gorgeous babies moved into the Transitional Care Nursery!!! That would be Bobby and Maya! They now have the "best" corner in the nursery (thanks to all the nurses who love them so much). It's the most private are of TCN and, with a screen put up during nursing, will be like their own little private room. As we were leaving, their nurse was "decorating" their space with their items. So, when I go in next, I wont take the long walk to Critical Care (which is how the majority of the NICU is referred to) but will go to the area just inside the NICU doors. A step closer to Bobby and Maya going home!