And more of the same AGAIN!

Today was my first day in the NICU. Oddly enough, it’s even noisier than the special care or HDU departments. The phones are ringing, the lights are bright, the doorbell is ringing, it’s mad! It’s really not that different than what I saw in Denmark, or even the HDU – it’s still breastmilk, IG tubes, medicine, meconium and chunky aspirates. I got to go to a class for the parents on baby massage. I think Denmark should try to implement some education courses/classes for the parents. The parents are excited, willing to listen and learn, and they write the most in depth notes you’ve ever seen. What a way to involve them and educate them! Nothing bad can come from educating the parents and giving them a little more confidence in handling their baby. It was kind of funny, though, because they all practiced the massage on these regular size baby dolls, but as they all pointed out, their babies are only a third or half the size of the dolls. They thought it was weird to think that (God willing) their child would one day be so huge – seven whole pounds!! It must be just terrible to have your first child spend the first two months of its life in an incubator. You have to give the parents a lot of credit for holding it together as well as they do.