cardiac unit
We visited the cardiac unit at the Freeman on Monday. I am very glad we went but it was so upsetting seeing babies and young children hooked up to different monitors and tubes and knowing that my baby could be one of them in a few weeks time.
The Children's Ward is small, the baby bay has about 4 cots with comfy chairs for parents to be with their baby. Parents are encouraged to do normal things with their babies - hold, cuddle, play and feed which is a relief. There are also different bays where parents can stay overnight and it looks like babies can stay in their with parents if they are not too poorly. When we find out the true health status of our baby we can find out more about co-sleeping and breastfeeding.
The staff seem very good and human.
The intensive care unit wasn't as scary as I thought it would be - it is bright and open plan so you can see all the children in there. It is very noisy with lots of staff - each child has its own nurse - and machines buzzing and alarming all the time. We spoke to the head of the the ward, who was lovely, and she said that she encourages parents to take breaks, to sleep, to eat and to see their older children because there will always be someone with the baby and parents get too exhausted to cope. I guess we'll find out in a few short weeks how well we will cope with all of this. Hopefully our baby will be strong enough to go straight to the children's ward rather than intensive care. It looks like one of us will be there at night and, depending on whether I can breastfeed, it will probably be me most of the time so hopefully we can develop a routine of seeing the kids during the day and evening.
It seems so strange to write about a future only a few weeks away and not know what I am going to be doing, or capable of doing. The highlight of visiting the unit was seeing how busy it is, we are not on our own, there are plenty of other parents going through the same, or worse, than us and it has reinforced what the cardiac team are capable of doing everyday. It all comes doen to whether our precious baby has the strength to cope with the battle it faces.
The Children's Ward is small, the baby bay has about 4 cots with comfy chairs for parents to be with their baby. Parents are encouraged to do normal things with their babies - hold, cuddle, play and feed which is a relief. There are also different bays where parents can stay overnight and it looks like babies can stay in their with parents if they are not too poorly. When we find out the true health status of our baby we can find out more about co-sleeping and breastfeeding.
The staff seem very good and human.
The intensive care unit wasn't as scary as I thought it would be - it is bright and open plan so you can see all the children in there. It is very noisy with lots of staff - each child has its own nurse - and machines buzzing and alarming all the time. We spoke to the head of the the ward, who was lovely, and she said that she encourages parents to take breaks, to sleep, to eat and to see their older children because there will always be someone with the baby and parents get too exhausted to cope. I guess we'll find out in a few short weeks how well we will cope with all of this. Hopefully our baby will be strong enough to go straight to the children's ward rather than intensive care. It looks like one of us will be there at night and, depending on whether I can breastfeed, it will probably be me most of the time so hopefully we can develop a routine of seeing the kids during the day and evening.
It seems so strange to write about a future only a few weeks away and not know what I am going to be doing, or capable of doing. The highlight of visiting the unit was seeing how busy it is, we are not on our own, there are plenty of other parents going through the same, or worse, than us and it has reinforced what the cardiac team are capable of doing everyday. It all comes doen to whether our precious baby has the strength to cope with the battle it faces.
posted by Mrs Smith at
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
2 Comments:
hey sweetie. Hope you are ok and coping with things. You are in my thoughts petal.
I hope you dont mind but I passed this link onto the 'gang', lizzie, ian and chris. So you might hear from them.
Love,
Si xx
Still thinking of you and praying for you all as you try to come to terms with this dreadful loss. Love,
Jenny L
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