boardchic

Thanks for posting. Lovely and sad. We get a lot of cardiac moms at our hospital because we have an adult ICU and the local tertiary NICU doesn't. We try very hard to take stable babies to these moms as much as is feasible. Such an important part of family centered care.

alyn918: it's nurses like you that make me question the profession. Show some respect, you clearly don't understand. Bortaz, I think you are amazing. Hang in there. I know how defeating it can be to lose one, but then to have to battle for another one, worrying that you'll have to go through it again, I just can't imagine. Like others have said, try to find someone you can get through it with and blow off some steam. Sending healing vibes.

We always use diapers and still get good results. I fold the top of the diaper under (in front and back) to expose more skin.

Ha! Summer is the only time we don't have MSIs. Otherwise we have a new couple every two weeks. It can be exhausting.

Man, it just moves so fast once signs start to show. I don't feel like I did anything wrong - she was fine on my shift - her usual sweet self, residuals fine, stool fine, tummy fine. And absolutely not septic - i know what septic looks like. It's just at first i was thinking back and questioning if we should have advanced her feeds slower, but we treated her as we do other new 35 weekers and she's the only one that developed NEC. It sucks. Now I understand why people call it evil.

One of the moms commented that their little girl seemed extra tired. I said that's because we do baby races at night and place bets on who's fastest :)

I get, "did he sleep?" Or " did he have a good night?" I find the sleeping question amusing when it's a 32 weeker. Though, recently, the first question a mom asked me was "how are your kids?" That switched it up a bit. I spent some time as primary for her sister's twins, so I guess they talked about me :)

That so sucks, Bortaz. My first NICU death was a hemopericardium/cardiac tamponade. We tried so hard to save that little girl, but she wouldn't respond to anything. I'll never forget watching helplessly until it was called - by then the transport neo had taken over. Still makes me cry thinking about it.

Thanks for the stories. As awful as it is, it does help to know it happens even under close monitoring. We have a lot of grower feeders and all are over 31 weeks, so it was shocking. Especially that she was pink and normal on my shift and the next day she was grey and septic. She was going for an exploratory laparotomy yesterday last I heard, so maybe I'll get an update on my next set.

Came in after 5 days off and found out one of my babes developed NEC and was sent to our nearest tertiary center the day after I had her. I want to throw up. I need to stop with the what ifs, but it's hard to not go there. Three years in our level 2 and this is my first. I hope she comes through ok.

I've cried in an interview before (not for nursing though), and I got the job.

How is her general tone and weight gain? Is she small?