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Tuesday, July 1, 2008
We got a call this afternoon from the doctor telling us that Claire was doing so well that they were considering releasing her on Thursday...and that James was 'at least' a week behind. Once that news came in, I called Gladney to find out if we are able to process the interstate adoption paperwork one baby at a time. And the answer is yes.
Once this news hit, we had all kinds of things to think about. My main concern is: How long can we live in a hotel room with a newborn infant, a two year old, and a mother-in-law that is running on fumes? The answer: not very long. So we came up with a plan. When Claire is released, start the interstate paperwork immediately...Gladney thinks they can help push it through and it might only take a couple of days. At the end of that period (early next week), we send Christy, Mamaw, Nicholas, Claire and all luggage back to D.C., where Christy can start settling in and be the sleepless single parent of two young children. I would stay in Austin to work, visit James, and sleep..with occasional breaks to eat and blog. It is not ideal, but we all agreed it was the lesser of two evils. Mamaw could still help Christy, but return home from time to time to get a breather. My mother is in Charlotte, as my sister Leslie's baby stubbornly refuses to be born. She is out of the picture, as is proper, as a mother's place is with her daughter in times such as these. We are very excited for them and would be in Charlotte ourselves, were not all of this happening. With our new plan set in motion, we devised that we only need one carseat down here, as I can escort them to the airport, and Claire can have her real carseat meet her as she gets off the plane in DC. Rather than shipping one of our existing car seats down here, we just bought one and will probably donate it to the NICU on our way out. So Christy and I took an afternoon jaunt to Target. When we went to see the babies tonight, James had already eaten and it was Claire's turn. I was on feeding duty and began holding the bottle. After a few minutes, Claire's heart rate slowed (bradycardia) and alarms went off. These alarms are nothing new. This is common for preemies. The nurse informed me that it wasn't her fault, and said that he didn't want to assign blame. Now, I am not the most perceptive guy in the world, but I know when somebody is blaming me. I was holding the bottle to her lips... With that episode disregarded as fluky, I continued to feed her. These episodes continued to happen in short bursts, and then finally happended with a burst long enough where Claire started turning blue. Holding a baby that turns blue is scary. She recovered and her color returned, but it left Christy and I a little nervous. These are not unusual occurrences for preemies...there is no real cause for alarm. Claire just had not had one since June 21. James' last one was June 27. But it does have consequences.... Before either baby can be released, it needs to do the following:
Claire's episodes tonight should guarantee that Claire is NOT released on Thursday. Christy and I are not comfortable with taking a baby that is doing this out of the hospital. We are encouraging them to keep them both until they are SURE that they are well enough. We are thankful that Claire had these problems tonight rather than on an airplane on the way home. Meanwhile, we got wind that they took a chest X-ray of James, and it appears there is fluid in his lungs. Again, this is typical for preemies, but they were not expecting to see that. They put him on some medication and are hoping he gets better. So now we are back to two more weeks, which is getting harder and harder to swallow. While we are making the best of things, this hotel is not our home. Nicholas has been a real trooper but keeps saying 'I want to go home'. The stuffing is literally falling out of Mamaw. We keep offering to send her home, but like any good warrior, she refuses to leave the field of battle. I keep hearing from people that we look fresh and rested in our pictures. I assure you that this is not the case. This whole thing is extremely stressful and it is frustrating that the finish line keeps moving further and further away. Even though the doctors are trying to re-assure us, it is emotionally exhausting seing them struggle at times. Believe me, we understand that our situation is far from difficult compared to what it could be...but it still takes a toll. Christy and Mamaw are working very hard to keep Nicholas entertained. This is very difficult to do in the middle of a city and Nicholas is not allowed in the NICU (not even the waiting room). They literally are busy all day every day. I am getting crushed at work. I can get a lot done from here, but everything is just that much harder. My co-workers are trying to pick up the slack for me, but right now I owe a lot of people a lot of things. It did not help that we took a scheduled vacation the last week of May...followed by this TBD-week excursion. I am literally working from sun up to sun down trying to catch up, so I am absolutely NO help to Mamaw and Christy. I am hoping that working over the weekend might help alleviate some of this and free me up to be more useful to my wife. After witnessing an apparently healthy baby turn blue tonight, Christy and I are very worried about how we are ever going to fall asleep once those babies are sleeping under our care. We may have the hospital call a Virginia hospital to see about getting rental monitoring equipment (which they tell us is common practice for NICU graduates). The good news is that a few months from now we will be home with our babies and will no doubt be looking back at our adventure with great fondness. We are trying to enjoy things as much as we can, but there are just so many unknowns and in truth we are worn down. And I am fat again. Tomorrow should bring some good times as Christy celebrates her 25th birthday. |
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