Communication
- Growth Chart App
- NICU App (I only found this post NICU but how excellent!!?)
- I like this article How do I help a family in the NICU
- Parent / nurse handover diary – worth investing in one if you have certain things you want each nurse to know on that day.. like:
- dummy / no dummy
- milton / no milton (steam bags)
- which milk to use (freshest, oldest etc)
- when you like to breastfeed
- which clothes you do / don’t want them to wear
- how you like them to sleep
- how fast you want feeds to go down
- this list is endless particularly the longer you’re in NICU
- It’s also lovely to receive little letters back from nurses overnight
Care for you
- Moo Goo is good for hands – try to use each time you wash them
- If you’re at RHW and you haven’t discovered it yet – good food and coffee at 22 Grams
- Occasionally try to sleep a five or six hour stretch
- do as much skin to skin as you can (understand you may not be able to yet but it will happen!)
- Take days off if you can bear it
- Try to talk and LISTEN to other mums. It helps.
- Tell your birth story – nurses are great at listening to endless birth stories and it helps you process your shock / grief whatever
- Write a blog (of course!!) – great way to stop the hundreds of emails inquiring how you and bub(s) are
- Cry heaps
- Let people hug you
- Bring headphones and listen to music during downtime
- If your friends want to help, ask them to visit you at nurse handover with a home cooked meal and some news from their lives 😉 – helps you stay connected, feel cared for and sane
- http://www.dinnerladies.com.au/
Expressing
- Hands free nursing bustier
- Express to and from the hospital while driving if you can – saves heaps of time
- Only buying a single pumping set is not economising
- Keep track of your milk. There’re some good apps for this
- Never chuck your milk until you know you absolutely won’t need it
- If you are sure you don’t need your milk and need to chuck it, don’t – donate it to Rose or Human Milk for Human Babies
- If your milk is low have a warm shower or bath and try again or find a way to laugh – a dinner with a girlfriend or a playdate with an older child work wonders
Care for your baby(ies)
- Read to your baby (even memorising a couple of books really useful)
- Dimples suit with foot coverings
- Do as much skin to skin as you can
- I didn’t do this… some other parents in NICU did – purchase a zip up fleece for kangaroo care… keeps you both warm and you can zip it up and keep them safe (if you fall asleep… I always fall asleep)
- Intubation can damage nostrils if tube puts pressure on them. Ask your nurse to move the tube if you think it’s doing this… I didn’t!!
- No baby list EVER is complete without mentioning hug-a-bub :-). Don’t be discouraged by the tying… a few goes and you’ll wonder why you ever thought it was difficult
Gastrostomy Care
http://www.feedingtubeawareness.org/tube-feeding-basics/introductions/new-to-tube-feeding/
Other stories and blogs that made me feel less alone
JCO-2013-Webster-JCO.2013.52.5246
http://noahsupsanddowns.blogspot.com.au/p/welcome-to-holland.html
Rose Eir 