Top Ten Tuesday

Sometimes I think about our time in the NICU.  It amazes me how I still miss things about the NICU.  You aren't supposed to want to be there, you aren't supposed to grow to love things about the hospital, and you aren't supposed to develop good friendships with the doctors and the nurses.  Here is my top 10 things I miss about the NICU.

1. I miss knowing that a little girl was waiting for me to get to the NICU every morning and she would be so happy she would wiggle her toes in excitement when she heard our voices enter her room.

2.  I miss my daily coffee runs for cold de-caf frappachinos for me and for the nurses and having the coffee guy downstairs know exactly what I wanted before I ordered.  It was the only thing I could count on being the same each and every morning.

3.  I miss the humming of Ella's vent and the beeps of the machines.  It is all we ever heard when sitting next to my baby girl's bedside.  Her humming vent would sometimes put me to sleep.

4.  I miss hearing her nurses call her Tootsie and putting pink little bows in her pretty blond hair.  Ella's primary nurses paid special attention to our little princess making sure she was always well cared for, that she had the cutest blankets, and the sweetest pictures hanging on her walls.  They not only took care of Ella but provided constant hugs and support for us too.

5. I miss the morning and evening rounds the doctors and staff did regarding Ella's health.  They made us feel like part of her care team and let us know that we were her biggest advocates. Our voice mattered to those doctors.  They wanted to teach us everything they could about her care so that we could better understand therefore be better parents to our preemie daughter.

6. I miss taking her temperature and changing her diapers.  Those are the very few things we could do for our baby and each day we took pride in doing these simple things for our daughter.  I would even get super excited over a poopie diaper.  I love those nurses for helping us feel involved and needed as Ella's parents.

7.  I miss kangaroo care.  Kangaroo care is when a mother or father gets to snuggle with their little preemie, skin to skin. I got to hold Ella a few times in kangaroo care and we would cuddle for hours.  She would even make sweet little noises letting us know that she liked it too. 

8.  I miss the smell of the soap in the hospital.  I know this sounds odd, but after washing your hands constantly for 83 days, the smell sort of grows on you!

9.  I miss going down to the cafeteria or into the family room to make a quick phone call and running into other parents of NICU babies.  Without knowing anything about them, they became instant friends because they know all too much about the NICU rollercoaster.  The common thread of NICU life runs deep in all parents who has ever had a child in the NICU.

10.  I miss when Ella would squeeze our fingers and we would rub her blond little head.  She would peak out at us just to make sure it was her mommy or daddy comforting her.   We would hold her little hand for hours and she would never want to let go of our fingers.  We would kiss her little toes and her sweet little checks to show her just how much we loved our baby girl.

If you have been in the NICU, what are some of the things you miss?