On Tuesday afternoon, we brought our Britax Chaperone car seat to the NICU for the car seat test. All babies have to be put in the car seat for 90 minutes. They are monitored for breathing problems while in the seat. If there are any issues at all, they have to be tested in a car bed and go home in that. I had spent an hour installing the low birth weight infant foam into the car seat to make it ready for babies weighing 4-11 pounds. Sebastian is between 5 and 6 pounds (not sure of his exact weight today) so I was thinking he'd definitely need the foam. Well, it turns out that when we placed him in the seat, the crotch straps were coming down to his knees and were over his thighs instead of his hips. We could not for the life of us figure out how the heck to adjust the straps correctly. So I called in reinforcement--my baby expert and friend Michelle LaRowe. SHE HAS BEEN INVALUABLE. Actually, here's a shameless plug for her and her services. She knows more about babies than anyone I know.
http://thecapecodbabyplanner.com/Home.html
http://www.michellelarowe.com/
She also has various books published. If you know anyone who is pregnant, her books or her services would be the best present you could give to the future mother and father.
Ok, so back to the story. Within MINUTES, Michelle had a bunch of people, including the Car Seat Lady http://thecarseatlady.com/ helping me out. I was texting her pictures of Sebastian in the seat, and she and all of her friends were figuring out the problem. Eventually, we realized that the low birthweight foam actually needed to be removed!!! After we took it out, Sebastian fit perfectly in the seat and we were able to start the car seat test. He passed with no problem and was a good sport throughout all of our maneuvering and experimenting with the seat. So he was ready to go home on Wednesday.
At 8:30 on Wednesday morning I got a call from the NICU, from Judy one of their primary nurses. The doctors had tested both Adrian and Sebastian's red blood cell count (standard procedure) and they both came back extremely low. This sounds scary, but here's the story. ALL babies' red blood cell counts go down after they are born. It guess the count actually hits a number in the 20s (with whatever scale they use) before their bone marrow kicks in and starts to produce the red blood cells. So all babies are anemic to start out. Both boys were taking iron supplements to help their bodies out in producing the red blood cells, but the counts were still a little too low--their bone marrow simply hadn't kicked in enough yet. Sebastian's was 22 and Adrian's was 20...way too low. So they gave both boys a transfusion. It's not as bad or as serious as an adult might think. This is quite common in the NICU. By the time the transfusion "wears off," they are old enough to produce their own red blood cells. They just don't like to transfuse in the NICU if it's not absolutely necessary because there can be side effects. Luckily, both boys had no issues with the transfusion, and they both looked so good after. They were awfully pale before the transfusion. We even think that the lack of energy and listlessness was affecting Adrian's eating. After he got the transfusion, he took a bottle for ME without any problems. And, he had one minor choke last night for Jill (the night nurse) and did fine with his feedings all day today with Marcy and Carlos. Marcy is hoping we can get him home Sunday, which would be a great new year's present! It would also be nice because both Marcy and Judy are working on Sunday. That would be ideal for us, so that we can say goodbye and thanks to both of them.
We went to the hospital around 10:30AM today to spend some time with Adrian before Sebastian's discharge. It was bittersweet for me for so many different reasons. I hated to leave Adrian. Hated it. But at the same time, I was so grateful and so happy that Marcy was there to take care of him. I felt so overwhelmed by gratitude that I cried and would have probably bawled my eyes out if I could have. I wasn't crying when I left because I was sad or even scared--I was crying because I was so grateful to Marcy and Judy and all the other nurses who trained us well and who gave us peace of mind when taking care of our two boys. Those two ladies were angels in our lives as far as I'm concerned, and I hate the idea of not seeing them every day!! They've become an important part of our lives because they have been so patient, kind, and helpful to me and Carlos and absolutely wonderful to our boys. I hope with all my heart we'll keep in touch. I also hope they know what an impact they made on our lives.
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| The boys' NICU home. Sebastian's on the left and Adrian's on the right. |
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| This was Marcy with Sebastian as we were preparing to leave. It brings tears to my eyes. Thank you, Marcy. |
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| With Adrian before we left him. This also brings tears to my eyes. |
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| Home, finally. I'll be living in those PJs for the next year. |
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| In his car seat on the ride home. He slept the whole way. |
After we got home, we let Lexi sniff Sebastian's car seat and then slowly let her approach him. She didn't get too close to him, but enough that she got his scent. So far, she has been a royal pain in the neck, but she's ok when we let her be around us and Sebastian and don't try to block her off or keep her away. She just likes to be a part of everything so much. She was sitting in front of me and Sebastian as I breast fed him, supervising, I think. Hopefully she'll get better and better and lose interest! But that's probably wishful thinking. The thing that has stressed me out the MOST about bringing the boys home is her, and I'm not convinced this is going to go well. Hopefully, she'll be over the novelty by the time Adrian gets home and I have to take care of two babies.
I fed Sebastian at about 5:30-6 and then we called Marcy. She told us to call her at the NICU once we were home. Carlos has been a nervous wreck all day, and I think she wanted to put him at ease. And she did when we talked to her.
Lastly, here's a picture of sweet Adrian. I hope he's home soon...that's enough for now because I'm crying again and my heart is breaking for this little boy.
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