33 Weeks and a NICU tour

Today we headed over to the hospital to tour the NICU, meet the neonatologist, and then see Dr. Ryder and have another sonogram.  I was picturing the NICU as a really loud, bright, scary place with lots of people crowded around tiny beds and alarms going off all the time.  I was way off.  It was very calm, quiet, with rooms along the outside windows.  Jenine, a NICU nurse gave us the tour and answered our questions.  I'm sure at times it is quite hectic, but while we were there it was very calm.  I could catch glimpses of little feet and little heads sticking out of tiny beds in the rooms.  There were many rooms and it was recently expanded to twice the size but they were only using half of it.  Plenty of room for Isaac!  You never want your baby to go to the NICU, but if he has to go, at least knowing there is plenty of room is comforting. 

We met with Dr. Kahn, the neonatologist on duty at the time.  She talked about what will happen when he's born and what they can do to help him.  So far the most common answers we have gotten to our questions are:

1) "We won't know until he is born."
or
2) "It depends..." (on how much lung, how big the hole is, how his heart/lungs work together, etc)

This doctor had no new information, aside from assuring us that everything he would need is at this hospital and he won't need to be transferred.  We've gotten used to answers 1 and 2, so we weren't surprised, but it does get tiring and a bit depressing.  I do appreciate when they say, "This must be very hard for you", but even that gets tiring.  I was determined not to cry while meeting the neonatologist, but apparently I didn't look convincing because Jenine had already gotten a box of tissues out for me.  I did manage to ask all my questions and after the final answer #1, I cried, but of course they were very understanding.  I'm sure they are used to hormonal women under a lot of stress and I am no exception.

We did get a copy of the NICU rules and sadly Nathan won't be able to come visit (no kids under 12) but that is probably for the best.  Parents and grandparents can visit at anytime but anyone else needs one of us to accompany them.  Only 2 visitors at a time.  All visitors have to scrub their hands for 3 minutes before entering. No one with a cough, cold, vomiting, fever, cold sores, etc. can visit.  They do have a few rooms that you can stay in if your baby is in critical condition.  Hopefully we won't need one of those rooms!  I am wondering what happens if I get a small cold because there's no way I'm staying away from him unless I'm dying.  I will wear a full gas mask and gloves and scrubs if necessary! 

We headed over to Dr. Ryder's office and had another bio-physical profile sonogram.  Isaac scored 8 out of 8 again!  We could see his diaphragm (or part of it) moving so that's a good sign again.  Amniotic fluid was around 16 so that's a good sign too (11 is getting low, 25 is getting high).  We watched him as he stuck his tongue out and stretched and wiggled.  She even saw hair!  Not surprising since Nathan was born with a full head of hair (as I was too).  They don't measure his size during these visits, but next week when we see Dr. Weiss again, he will measure him. 

Seven more weeks, seven more trips to the doctor left to go.  Grow, Isaac, grow!