This morning, I called Melissa Perillo, the NICU nurse manager. I told her that although we were impressed with the staff overall, noise was a problem...often a problem caused by the staff. I explained that we had a 25-weeker who still has a lot of developing to do and I wasn't convinced that the nurses were taking the noise situation seriously. They seem to think that once they look like "real" babies, they can be treated like them. With preemies, that's simply not the case. I said that because pod three has a lot of the bigger babies, it is often gossip central for the nurses. I also mentioned that the cell phone policy hasn't been enforced, which also contributes to the noise. Melissa took my concerns seriously. She said that they have been trying to work on the noise. As a temporary fix, she asked me if I wanted them to move Henry into the isolation room. I said yes. As mentioned before, the drawbacks to the isolation room are: (1) near a main hallway, (2) used to be next to the baby pterodactyl, and (3) Henry would get moved if parents needed to room in OR a child with an infectious disease needed the room. Well, given that the pterodactyl left yesterday, I decided it was worth a shot.
Karin tracked me down when I arrived. She just wanted to make sure that I really wanted the isolation room given I had turned it down before. I also received clarification that Henry would not be moved if parents were rooming in (she has another space for that). So as long as an infection disease case doesn't arrive, the room is his.
Kathy Berry (a Kathy that we haven't had before) was Henry's nurse today. She's been working at UMC's NICU for 19.5 years. She was very nice and quiet. I liked her a lot. She told me that Henry had pulled out his feeding tube last night. It's been a few days since he's done that (I often don't write it in the blog because it is normal for him to do that).
My decision for moving Henry proved justified after I had been in the pod for a few minutes. They hadn't moved Henry yet (they'll do that this evening). The mother of the baby next to Henry (Maximus) is a problem cell phone user. She had a friend who was speaking in a loud voice on her cell phone. Sherry, one of the nurses in the pod, told Carol (who was the nurse in charge of Maximus) that they had been instructed to monitor cell phones and tell parents that they could no longer use them in the NICU. As it turns out, not only is this because of noise, but the cell phone reception screws up some of the baby monitors and has been known to turn off some of them (when they are desperately needed). Carol said "Well, they keep changing their minds on the policy" in reference to management and didn't move from her chair. Sherry went to double check with management and was told that they needed to tell parents and guests not to use cell phones. She conveyed this information to Carol. Meanwhile, the woman on the cell phone continued to make calls. Carol wouldn't address the situation (continued sitting), so Sherry had to tell the woman that cell phone calls weren't allowed. The woman went to the phone near baby Ian (whose crib is right across from Henry's isolette and was being held by his great grandma), had Ian's great Aunt move, and then proceeded to make a call in a loud voice practically standing over Ian.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the stupidity of some people. My dad reported that during his morning visit, one baby's mom came into the pod, picked her son up under his arms, and shook him as she said "Wake up!" Mind you, this is a baby who still listed as critical (red) on the patient board.
Being in the NICU has made me come to the conclusion that people should have to get a license before they have kids. I realize that by writing this, I'm being politically incorrect. But there it is. I've seen some amazing parenting in the NICU, and I have seen stupidity and sometimes neglect. It isn't exactly rocket science to figure out the shaking babies is a no-no (even ones that are full term). In terms of neglect, last week, I heard one of the staff place a call to see what had to be done to release a baby to someone other than its mother because the mother wasn't going to be involved.
Once Maximus' mom and her friend left, the pod was relatively quiet, with the exception of a nurse who doesn't seem capable of speaking in a soft voice. She was discharging two babies in the pod. One baby who has loud parents, who typically don't contribute that much to the noise situation because they never came in much.
At some point, I took some pictures of Ian and his great grandmother. Ian's family comes into the NICU in shifts everyday to hold him. He is rarely left alone and likes to be held. His great grandmother (who looks way too youthful to be a great grandmother) was excited that I was taking pictures of her and Ian. I told her that I'd print them up at home and drop them off later. Jeff and I occasionally take pictures of some for various family members with the babies because we have the digital camera handy at all times. It's an easy way to bring some happiness to someone else's day.
Things settled down. I held Henry for a while. My mom came around 3:30PM. We changed his diaper. I handed Henry over to her, but then he got fussy and started rooting. They switched his feeds to send the 30 mls over one hour and then stop for two hours. It was toward the end of this two hours without food. So, I nursed him, and he actually did it for a few minutes, which was great.
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