It's another night in the NICU for Eli and Daddy. I relieved Patricia around 3:30pm so she could drive over to Evergreen to get our medical records. We want to see if there's any information in Eli's birth records that might give us a clue for a diagnosis. Patricia's been at the hospital all day today and she was here all last night too. Tonight's her turn to go home and spend some time with Ian and Obie and it's my turn to stay overnight at the hospital.
Our night has been pretty quiet all things considered. I've been reading a book and I ate dinner in the hospital cafeteria. It was pasta night! Most of the food in the cafeteria is unappealing even for a big eater like me.
Around 8:00pm we got a new neighbor in the room next to ours. We are in a single room but every room has a sliding glass door that opens to the ward and other sliders that open to the other rooms on either side. There was an initial swarm of people coming by to examine the new baby but we've learned through hard experience that the swarm is a fairly standard protocol for a new patient as all the doctors and nurses in the NICU get up to speed on the new admit.
Around 9:30pm I take Eli off his C-Pap for some cuddle time. We do some man bonding and talk about how the men's US Olympic Hockey team should have won the gold medal game vs. Canada. If we were still in Minnesota I think Eli would be a hockey player. Unfortunately Eli is asleep for just about the entire hour I have him off the C-Pap. I put him down around 10:30pm and change his diaper which wakes him up a little.
About the same time Eli wakes up the new baby next door to us crashes. I can hear the alarms going off. Our nurse is also assigned to the new baby so we have his monitors up in our room. I can see the blood oxygen monitor falling and I can hear our nurse calling for help and for a resuscitation kit. Lots of people rush into the room and after about 30 minutes or so they get the baby stabilized. I don't think I've been that scared to be in the NICU since the first day when they admitted Eli. No one was there for the little baby next door either, no parents or caretakers. I felt sick to my stomach and sad. I took Eli's little hand in mine and said a prayer for the baby next door. I think this might be the first time I've ever said a heartfelt prayer for a complete stranger. I'm also feeling guilty for enjoying my awake time with Eli while another baby is in such distress.
At 11:30pm I head up to the sleep room to crash. I'm exhausted but I need to look into starting this Blog. An hour later I think I've got the basics so now I just need to catch up on Eli's history.
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