So what have we been up to the last 163 days? Well Tessa was in the NICU for 56 of those days. I do not really know how to describe what 56 days in the NICU is like. I do not think that anyone can understand that, which, is the best thing that I learned from being in the NICU. People do not know or understand what someone is going through. I now tell folks that are going through a hard time that I cannot imagine how difficult that would be on them and those close to them. I got get tired of folks stating that they understood how I felt. I wanted to say, yea you have had a kid in the NICU for 56 days and attempted to live as normal as a life as possible while worrying every day about your family, spouse, work and your own mental health. Yea right!
So the NICU, how would one describe it? Well a person is given blue ID cards to verify who you are. You only need those ID cards for like the first day, then every front desk staff knows who you are and a magic door opens for you. I think that it is a bit of irony that the NICU is on the same floor as labor and delivery. NICU mom’s and dad’s get to walk by the waiting room for L&D on there way to the NICU. The L&D room is filled with folks that are so excited to hear the news about happy and healthy babies and NICU mon’s and dad’s are walking into the NICU. Kinda a different feeling. You get to the magic doors and pick up a phone and the door opens. At times someone answers but for the most part it just opens. You go to an army of sinks which have hand scrubbers. The scrubbers are like what at Dr uses and you are now using them. You scrub all the way to your elbows. You make the walk to the room; there are lots of NICU rooms with 3 babies to a room. I am surprised at how full the NICU always is. Tessa is in a room with twins. Tessa had the following things done to her in the Boise NICU:
- Brain Surgery 3 days old
- Intubated 2 days old
- Picc line 2 days old (this is an IV that goes all the way to your heart)
- Bilirubin lights
- Ultrasounds
- G tube for feeding
- EKG tests
We were not able to hold Tessa until she was 3 days old and my wife was the only one to be able to hold her since they were changing beds before her surgery was done. So it was a total fluke.
My first visitors other than family were the guys from my Tuesday group. I think it is a bit sobering to take other folks in the NICU. You tend to get accustomed to the process. It reminds you where you are when you take other people back and you can see how nervous one gets. People start to fumble with the scrub brushes and bad jokes are told. My guys came to see Tessa and as I said the NICU is hard to describe. The NICU can make grown Men cry.
Well Tessa stayed in the Boise NICU for like 2.5 weeks I think and then we moved out to the Meridian NICU in the 83642. The NICU in the 83642 has a lot better accommodations for a mom. My wife was given a room in the 83642 where she could order food and rest while checking on Tessa for the rest of her stay. Tessa got to ride to the Meridian NICU in an ambulance to the new location. So that was her first official ride.
The NICU in the 83642 was super different from the Boise NICU. We had a huge space that was dedicated to Tessa and at times I think the most babies that they had was 5. Tessa was the favorite for many of the RN’s that worked at the 83642 and many of them really enjoyed caring for Tessa. She officially got to “graduate” from the NICU on July 22 2010. It was super to have her home, but the next 107 days would be filled with adventure for the Olsen house.
Tessa Hope A blog on Hydrocephalus 