Re: preemie-l Intro of the Murphy Family
murphy@TeleCheck.com
Tue, 11 Jun 96 07:23:19 -0500
> Welcome to the group. (Although I am new to the group as well.) Since you
> have recently gone home and things are going well I wanted to ask a few
> question. OUr girl, Gabriel has been in the NICU for 7 weeks. She was born
> at 26 weeks weighing 1 lb. 13 oz. She is doing great!! It will still be
> awhile before she is home but I was wondering what to expect? Were you
> scared the entire time? Was the monitor accurate or were there lots of false
> alarms? Did you let visitors see her? hold her? Have you taken her places?
> I am excited to bring our baby home but I cant imagine what it will be like.
>
> Ranell
Hi Ranell,
We were very scared at first. Hopes due date was April 18th and we were told
from the start that it would be at least 1 month after her due date before she
could come home. To our amazement the doctors decided she could leave the
NICU on April 24th. We were delighted, but were very worried about our
ability to take care of her. My bets advice to you would be to pay close
attention to everything the doctors and nurses tell you before you take
Gabriel home. Learn as much as you can, and above all learn the infant CPR.
Luckily, we've never had to use CPR on little Hope, but knowing it and
practicing it often makes us feel much more secure in our abilities to care
for her.
As for the monitor, its been fairly accurate so far. Its definately had its
moments, but overall I'd say it's giving more of a since of security than it
has frights.
Hope has been home for almost two months now and we have only taken her to one
place besides her several doctors visits, and that was to her grandparents
house for only one hour. The doctors will surely suggest that you limit her
contact with other people for several months after getting her home. I guess
I would suggest just using your judgement. The way we figure it, the less
people she comes in contact with, the less chance of getting sick. By no
means am I saying that she should not have visitors, but try and keep the
number of people that are around her at one time to a minimum. And I would
also strongly suggest that you have a strict hand washing policy for anyone
who comes in contact with her, including yourselves (with in reason of course.)
I'm not sure about other peoples ideas on this, as I've only been a member of
the list for a few days. I'll post this to the group so that you can get
other opinions. I might be just way paranoid and way over protective.
As for being excited, you should be!!! It's one of the greatest feelings I've
ever felt. Having her home after all that time in the hospital is something
I'll never forget. We are very excited for you too, and we wish you nothing
but the best.
The Murphy's
Chris, Michelle, Michael, and little Hope