Today I was out and about, running errands. I saw a family while I was out. Parents and their twins. The twins were about 8 or 9, they were in wheel chairs, with contractures, and they appeared to not be cognizant of what was going on around them.
I can't get them out of my mind. I bet they were 24 weekers with grade III or IV bleeds. I think that I forget that our babies will grow up. When we send a baby home, they are acting like a normal baby, no matter how bad their head is.
I am a primary for a baby with hydrocephalus due to a grade III IVH on one side and a grade IV IVH on the other side. He has PVL too. He is getting a shunt in the next few days. The neurosurgeon was in talking to the parents yesterday and the dad asked if the shunt would affect his son playing football. The doc told the dad that contact sports were out of the question with a shunt. It made me realize how much the parents are in denial. They have been told the severity of their baby's bleeds, but they just don't believe it. The mom tells me that she refuses to believe that 'nobody is home' when she looks in her sons eyes. Mom really believes that her son is going to beat the odds and have a normal life. Dad isn't bonding with the baby, he actually called him an it before.
I don't know why I felt the need to ramble so! It was just jarring to see those kids.