Annoyed

First of all, let me say that Emily has had a great couple of days. Yesterday, they took her off the ventilator and put her on CPAP, which is slightly less support than the ventilator. So this is a good thing! Her feeds continue to go well, she is slowly gaining weight, and it's awesome to see her eyes wide open looking at us. I am so grateful for the progress she is making.

(Warning: I am about to let out a major vent!)

BUT, I am slightly annoyed about a few things. First of all, the nurse practitioner we had the first part of the week recommended they try to move Emily to a room with a door on it. She thought it would be a better, more restful environment for her. Right now, we have our own room but it just has a curtain.

Looking into Emily's room from the hallway

Which means more noise. And we happen to be located right across from the staff bathroom, the linen closet, the dirty laundry closet, and a staff exit door. Which means even more noise.

Down the hall - a room with a door!

Anyway, yesterday I asked what the status was, because I knew there was a room with a door open just 2 rooms down from Emily. The nurse said "well we will just see what happens." 3 hours later, they brought a new baby into that room. Grrrr.

I'm also annoyed that the nurses we've had the past few days are LOUD! They are in the hall right outside our room, cackling and yelling back and forth. Um HELLO, babies are trying to sleep in here! Grrrr.

ALSO, there have been a lot of full term babies coming in and out of here the past couple days. Why do they insist in putting those babies in the same areas as those of us who are here for a LONG time? When full term babies come to the NICU, its usually because they have a minor problem, and it resolves itself within a few hours or a few days, and then the parents happily take their babies home. They have a constant stream of (noisy, happy, laughing) visitors, and they don't seem to have any sensitivity to the rest of us. Grrrr.

ALSO, why are the nurses not offering to let us hold Emily? When I held her for the first (and only) time almost 2 weeks ago, they told us we should be able to hold her every day for 10 minutes at first, then more frequently if she tolerated it well. This week we were supposed to start "kangaroo care" according to all the documentation I've read, but I've only had ONE nurse mention it to me and it was 10:30 at night and Troy and I were exhausted. Grrrr.

Vent over. Sorry this was such a negative post, but I can't be happy all the time! :)