The NICU at UAB is for critical patients. Once the critical patients seem to be improving and can sustain themselves on their own with less support, they are moved to the CCN (Continued Care Nursery). This is not a typical nursery. One nurse is assigned to about 4-6 patients. That nurse monitors the baby. Depending on the medical diagnosis which brought them to the unit, they are monitored different ways. For Justin, since his problem is dealing with oxygenation of the lungs, his respiratory, oxygen saturation and heart rate levels are monitored.
The good news is that Justin was moved to the CCN this morning! Praise the Lord for that. His diagnosis is the same: PPHN, a right sided aortic arch (which he has had but we were told yesterday) and club feet.
Today has been a trying day for me because my husband needed to get back to Auburn and took Troy (now 17 months) with him. I'm a big girl and can take care of myself. But, my husband leaving with my other "baby" was the beginning of the tears. I was overjoyed when Justin was moved to CCN. Then, I was able to spend some quiet quality time with Justin. One milestone was that I was able to put real clothes on him. Today is day 6 of his birth and his stay at UAB so it's about time the child wears something other than a diaper!
Early this afternoon the doctors came around for rounds. When I say doctors, this means that there is the head of the NICU (neonatologist), a fellow, some interns and anywhere from 3-4 more doctors. Sometimes there are 6 or 8 doctors in the room. Dr. Toms is the neonatologist and is over the whole shebang this month. Justin had a repeat echocardiogram yesterday and the doctor wasn't able to see what he needed to see. For that reason, we were told that a CT scan was inevitable. I thought it would be a few months down the road. Not quite! The doctor recommended that it be done before we leave the hospital. This entails sedation as well as some radiation. Not a fan of either but it's necessary and will let us know whether Justin needs any treatment for his heart. Second time I cried. Leaving him tonight was hard, too. I thought I would be fine but leaving your newborn at a hospital without your husband is a bit difficult (or it was for me). Lesson learned, huh?
Anyway, overall things are really good. He looks great and is doing great. You'd never know he had anything going on with his heart. We are praying for God's will, acceptance and for the doctors to see a clear picture. If he's going to have all of this done, we might as well know about it all, right? Right.
So there you go. I'm doing good, too :) Have my moments but this is a difficult thing to go through. It keeps getting put into perspective when I think of the preemies in the NICU. They are long term, we shouldn't be. And, I'm very, very grateful for that.
I cannot tell a story: I’ve had a few thoughts that it would be nice if he was still inside me. He was safe there, I had no worries about his well being. It has been since he’s come into this crazy world that we have had to deal with medical issues.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that God is good and things are going to be just fine.
No visitors today but I wasn’t quite up for visitors :) Oh, actually our friend Aaron (who works for the company that built this building) came by right about the time I found out about the CT scan. I was a bit upset but okay.
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