The Nick-You

Ha! When I read Guinevere's post about the Nick-You, I cracked up. If I did not have some really close friends whose babies were also in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), and did not have a paramedic for a husband, I probably would not have known what it was either.

My friend Annette talked to me alot about the NICU. I was very concerned that the twins would be born early (call it mother's instinct :-) and that they would end up in the NICU. Mostly, I was worried that they would have breathing problems, would have low birth weights, or end up with other serious problems. I was also worried about the cost, considering our medical insurance covers 80% of our medical bills and we have to pay the other 20% (what happened to the days of $10.00 co-pays to every appointment under the sun?). Luckily we do have a family out of pocket maximum, but that is still $6,000 for the year. Yikes!

Annette allowed me to see that there are positives to the NICU, however. For example, traditional births have the baby in the hospital room with them with a few tips from nurses here or there. Then in two days they are home and on their own. With a child in the NICU, the nurses give you one-on-one attention in breast-feeding, attending to your baby, changing diapers, taking temperatures, noting differences in skin tone, rashes, etc. She found that it was like she was getting extra lessons in parenting that many parents wish they had.

Not only are our girls healthy as ever with no serious problems in breathing, or low birth weights, etc., we have found the nurses to be just as helpful as Annette described them. We have learned how to tell if a baby takes a whole feeding, how many diapers to expect when they are eating full meals, how to take their temperature, how to note jaundice, and what kind of feeding schedules and options are available. And we have made some excellent friends in the nursing business! How could we go wrong!