So much of what occurred immediately after Luke's birth is a blur thanks to my pain medication, but I can tell you that I am able to see God's provision for our new family even from the very beginning of our NICU adventure.
For those of you who have never experienced it, the NICU is a serious place. You, as the parent, do not feel like you're in control. Quite often you feel at the mercy of your baby's nurses. So I prayed from day 1 for the ladies that would be caring for our sweet boy, and you know what? God put some really special people in our lives during our NICU stay. 23 days x 2 nurses each day = 46 opportunities to see God's hand at work!
As Luke's mom, I was not in control of much. But one thing I was in control of was how my baby would be fed. I knew long before Luke was born that I would be breastfeeding. I had done my research and knew that this was best for Luke and really wanted to give my baby all the benefits that breastfeeding offers. This became even more important when Luke was born premature! Thankfully I had the help of my sister and an awesome lactation consultant Becky to help me get started. In the beginning, and for quite some time, Luke could not take feedings orally. This meant all of his nutrition was given to him through his G tube. However, God provided in many ways, and though Luke was more than 6 weeks premature, he was able to receive my milk from the very beginning. That may not seem like a big deal to most, but to this momma it was HUGELY significant!
In the NICU, bottle feeding is the norm and overwhelmingly preferred by the doctors and nurses because they can control the situation right down to the mL. For many valid reasons, I decided Luke would not be bottle fed so that we could really establish breastfeeding. My team of awesome lactation consultants prepared me for resistance. Instead, very early on, we met Lisa. She was Luke's nurse one day and the biggest blessing I can possibly imagine. Not only was she supportive of our efforts, she was helpful and encouraging! We were blessed with Lisa several more times while Luke was in the critical side of the NICU and she helped Luke and I so much! Then one day Luke was able to maintain his own temperature and was moved from his enclosed isolette and put in an open-air crib! This was good news, we were headed to a private room in the less critical wing of the NICU! But it also meant we would meet an entirely new team of nurses, so once again I braced for resistance.
At this point we really started working with the nurse practitioners versus the doctors and again The Lord blessed us with two amazing women who would be in charge of Luke's care for the remainder of his NICU stay. I encountered MANY complications and was helped through them by my LC's and even Luke's nurse practitioners- all the while making slow progress toward feeding Luke without his tube. The nurse practitioners, obviously experts at dealing with preemies shared with me that most babies are ready to feed orally around 36-40 weeks. Talking with other NICU moms, all of whom were bottle feeding, I found this to be true. "my baby won't eat" was a common complaint. Taking things day by day and being blessed with many supportive nurses along the way. Chris was back to work, often dropping me off at the hospital before 6. He'd go to work, put in a full day and then meet up with Luke and I around 2pm. We'd stay til about 10:30, then do it all again the next day. Exhausted and feeling like we would call the NICU our permanent home, we found ourselves at the 36 week mark. Luke began to show progress and we were allowed to offer more oral feedings. As he began to gain weight, the decision was made to take out his tube. For Chris and I this meant we could not go home overnight-sleeping in that tiny NICU room, me in the hospital recliner and Chris in a camping chair from Academy. (Have I mentioned how thankful I am to be married to such an incredible man? Luke and I are really lucky!) After 2 nights of this, the nurse practitioners decided we were ready to "room in".
Rooming in meant caring for Luke for a 24 hr period without nurses- so pretty much what we had been doing for the past couple of days, only in a special room complete with a bed for sleeping. Luke was really starting to get the hang of things, and though he didn't gain weight that night, he did maintain. The next morning one of the doctors came to look Luke over, checked his charts and said we were going home! Totally unprepared for this response, we packed up our things to head home with Luke after 23 days in the NICU- at exactly the 37 week mark. I am so thankful that for each of those 23 days God placed the right people in our lives to take good care of Luke and support us throughout a very difficult process. With the help of those wonderful people we were able to accomplish what we desired for our sweet boy!
