NICU — Birth Stories — Everyday Abundant

Our brave little guy before surgery

After 4 hours of restless sleep I was on my way back to the NICU. Spending the night away from my baby and husband had been agony and I was anxious to be with them again, but I walked very slowly through the hospital, my left knee was very weak and I didn't want to fall again.

I got to our room shortly before the doctors and surgeons did morning rounds. We were hoping to hear that Johnny would go into surgery that day. But because his condition, while serious, was not life threatening they were going to wait until the next day to operate. This was frustrating to hear. We didn't want our baby to be in pain any longer than he needed to be, and we also wanted to get surgery behind us as quickly as possible so that we could get home and be a family….

Our room was so quiet and calm. It didn't even seem like the same room I had delivered in. We spent most of that first day just resting and trying to get nursing established. Johnny was not latching on; a lactation specialist visited us several times to work on it, but his little jaw was just clenched shut. Because he hadn't eaten much his blood sugar was low and they wanted to give him some formula. I was reluctant to give him a bottle until breastfeeding was well established, but I did want him to get some calories, so we finger-fed him some formula. He took a little, but mostly was just sleepy. Family and some friends came to see us and we proudly showed off our calm little baby who would let anyone hold him….

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