News From the Nursery Lab 2008-9

I've just done an overnight shift in NICU, and realized I'd not given an update for awhile.

There must be a sale on multiple births going on someplace. Right now we have two sets of triplets, one set of twins and another set due very soon. And these are all within the last week. We still have three sets of twins still being cared for in various places throughout the NICU bays who are older than two weeks.

One of the babies from one of the triplet sets is having a rough go of things. He was fine last Thursday morning, early, but crashed late morning. He's septic, and is now in Bay 1, in isolation, of course. Today, he seems to have some "fight" in him. He's responding, where yesterday, he wasn't. Today I went to draw from one of his "neighbors" and found the room empty. My heart was in my throat. I had to find a nurse to find out why. I was relieved to hear he'd been moved to Bay 1.

The baby with no brain function has been moved to another facility in another city. She's going to be shuffled from spot to spot, it's sad to say. The out-of-state facility which was going to take her, changed their decision, for some reason.

I've since found out that some of what I'd only suspected was true. The only time the father of this child would show up at the hospital was when he wanted to have sex with the child's mother. They were not married. When the baby was born, the mom wanted to shut the machines off. The dad said, "no, no, let's do everything possible." And, she changed her mind and began to hope. Somewhere in the following weeks, he decided he didn't want the child, so after his girl was deeply involved physically and emotionally with the baby, he tells her to have the plug pulled, for he doesn't want to deal with the burden of this child they created any longer.

So, he shows up for sex, but he won't even stand next to the bed, nor will he even look at his child. And, he told the mother that if the child was moved to the new facility, she would never see him again.

I hope the dumb f*** never gets laid again. And, I, along with the rest of the health care team, have other wishes for him, too.

Now...the good news is that I was talking to one of the nurses about one of my Warrior Babies. The original post about her is here. I was directed to one of the nurse's workrooms to check out a picture of her and her twin sister. They're a year old!!!! Beautiful children, they are. And my Warrior Baby is as big as her sister. She's still on oxygen, though, but it sounds as though they've progressed enough that both are trying to pull up and walk now. And you know...running can't be far behind! It's so wonderful to get updates of the successes!

And now...I've got to mention yesterday's shift. *sigh*

We have two babies whose parents should be slapped for the names they gave their kids.

One little girl is the younger sister of a girl named Sumara. What did they name this child? They named her "Tomorrow".

I'm having visions of this girl's wedding day. Can you just see the groom getting down on one knee, spreading his arms and singing, "Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I'll love ya, Tomorrow, You're only a day away!"

And the other child, a boy, has parents who are taking the modern approach and are using a hyphenated last name...although I don't see where that will stop any teasing. This child is named Henry. The first part of his last name - minus the Cockney phrasing?

"Just you wait, 'Enry, 'Iggins, just you wait!"


And finally, one of the nurses decided to make a song stick in our heads.

I told the witch doctor I was in love with you...
I told the witch doctor you didn't love me true...
And then the witch doctor, he told me what to do...he said sing:

"Oooo Eeeee Ooooo Ah Ah, Ting-Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang.
Oooo Eeeee Ooooo Ah Ah, Ting-Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang."

*evil grin* Now YOU get to share it with me, too.