A Weekend with Emily

Most new moms get to spend all their time with their newborn, but with a baby in the NICU, my time spent with Emily is precious and limited. Yesterday afternoon, I packed my suitcase and drove to Comer Children's Hospital (at the University of Chicago Medical Center) to spend a full 24 hours with Emily. They have sleep rooms just steps away from the NICU, so I had a bed to sleep in and could spend all of my waking hours with Emily.

I got to "kangaroo" with Emily twice this weekend. Kangaroo care is a term used for holding a preemie skin-to-skin. Here's a definition from about.com:

Definition: Kangaroo care is a way of holding babies skin to skin with a parent. In kangaroo care, a baby is undressed down to the diaper and placed on a parent’s bare chest. A blanket is placed over the baby for warmth. Kangaroo care can be done with any infant who is medically stable. Kangaroo care has been shown to have several benefits for premature babies. It helps babies breathe and sleep better, gain weight more quickly, and have more stable temperatures.

I also got to spend hours singing to her, praying for her, changing her diaper, holding her pacifier while she sucked on it, talking to her, and working on her baby book while she slept. Precious moments, indeed. She sleeps a lot yet, but every hour or two she'd wake up for 15-20 minutes and I was so thankful to be right there to give her a little "hello" when her eyes were open.

I spoke to Dr. Boos again today, and he said Emily is still doing great. She is having a couple of "de-saturation" episodes every day (the oxygen level in her blood drops) but with a little intervention from the nurse, she comes right back out of them. He says that this is just part of being so premature, and it is something she will hopefully grow out of by the time she's 35 weeks gestational age. (She's 30 weeks now.) They are keeping an eye on her though and keeping track of how often it happens.

Dr. Boos and the nurses tell me that it's a great sign that Emily is so active and alert, and Dr. Boos even told me that Emily is "one of the healthiest babies in the NICU," so that was very encouraging! Another doctor stopped by and introduced herself. She told me that Emily is one of her "favorites," so that was nice too.

Luke, Logan, and Audrey had an exciting weekend too. They went up to Michigan to Luke's parents' house and spent some time at the county fair. The kids got to see turkeys, sheep, pigs, horses, and a parade. It was a fun weekend for them as well.