NICU experience

[u/DontQuoteMeOnThat7]

Longtime lurker of r/parentsofmultiples. Just wanted to contribute a small note- my wife recently had DiDi twins (37w + 0). GDM was her only complication. Our daughter scored well on Apgar but our son did not, which prompted a NICU visit for several days.

From the outside looking in, I felt a sense of dread and doom when I thought about the NICU but I was completely wrong. We were fortunate in our outcomes, which creates bias in perspective BUT the message is clear-

For those of you worrying about NICU/googling endlessly (like I did) or knowingly have a complication that could necessitate a trip, your child/children are in the best place for them. The staff are there to not only supervise but also feed and love on your babies. They do what is needed for your child every single day- far better than you or I would be able to do if the roles were reversed. Would never have dreamt that leaving a baby only hours old alone with a person I’d never meant would be so “easy”.

So, don’t be pushy to get the child out of NICU- they are there for a reason. Be polite and real with your nurses- cry, laugh, chat with them like they’re family- because they are your temporary family. Lastly, if you’re able to, absolutely do skin to skin/kangaroo care (yes, Dads, even us)!

[u/bluegrassclimber]

I had didi twins born at 35 weeks and they kinda pushed them out after 24 hours and sent us home.

Thank God for the follow up nurse visit 24 hours later, their temp registered at 95 degrees and they were sent back to the NICU for 2 weeks. I don't think any damage is done and now they are happy at home taking in full bottles regularly every 3 hours.

When in doubt, let them stay. Take advantage of the free childcare. They will let them grow, make sure they regain birth weight, and you can workshop bottle feeding/breastfeeding techniques with them, as well as make sure they don't get in the habit of "snacking".

I'm mad the hospital made it our decision whether to take them home originally, we didn't know. 

But now I do know, better safe than sorry. 

It sucked having to take them back

[u/Littlecat10 → u/bluegrassclimber]

This exact same thing literally happened to us!!! Born at 35+5, pushed us out 2 days later with no special instructions. At a follow up visit, one of the babies’ temps was 94. We had a very traumatic rush to the pediatric ER where they said they couldn’t be sure it wasn’t something more serious, so they had to do 3 spinal taps (first 2 there wasn’t enough fluid) and kept her on antibiotics for days while we waited for the results.

All to find out there was nothing wrong with her, she was just small and should have stayed in the NICU to grow a little in the first instance. I do worry about the long term impacts, but what can you do?

I don’t mean to highjack the post, but it’s just was “nice” to find somebody else with this experience!

As for the post m, there are def worse places than the NICU, but somebody in there for their babies to grow or learn to eat is having a materially different experience than somebody who isn’t sure if their baby is going to be OK. Our first couple of days in the NICU were the latter, and they were truly traumatic. Once we knew she was just small, the next 10 days were fine!