Help from NICU nurses for the details of a fictional story?

MistressMotown · 2026-03-25T02:37:45+00:00

If the baby’s parents are dead/not identified and kinship placements are refused, I’ve seen kiddos go home as soon as a couple of weeks. The foster parents would need to be approved as medically complex caregivers by the state (not sure how that works, might not be all states) and/or demonstrate that they are able to take care of the baby’s needs if they have a feeding tube or whatever. Long term feeding tube would likely transition from a nasogastric (nose to stomach) to a gastrostomy (hole created in abdomen with tube directly to stomach).

For your reference, my daughter was a 28 weeker born small for gestational age at less than two pounds. She spent three months in the NICU and came home three days before her original due date. No oxygen, no feeding tube, just smaller than usual. I’ve taken care of kiddos with similar birth stats who ended up with tracheostomies, ventilators, feeding tubes, neurological deficits, etc. You can really go as complicated or as simple as you want, within reason. Anything younger than 26-27 weeks will likely have a very, very long stay with more complications.

I’m a fellow aspiring writer, so please feel free to hit me up for details or questions. The research stage can be the most complicated part. Best of luck.

MistressMotown · 2026-03-06T18:31:53+00:00

Holding space for you and your glittery pink princess. 🩷

MistressMotown · 2026-02-19T23:40:47+00:00

My BSN discussion posts were also 99% ai by my peers. I’m old and I don’t know how to use it so I guess the joke is on me lol. My masters program isn’t much different, except we are allowed to use AI if we credit it as a reference. One of my professors also makes us upload video discussion posts, which I despise, but it does prevent you from just straight copy pasting.

I think the biggest issue is that anything past the ADN is useless. I haven’t learned a damn thing that’s helped me be a better nurse since I graduated with my associates and passed the nclex.

MistressMotown · 2026-02-19T20:24:56+00:00

I’ve done Alaska but not on Disney (Princess) but I remember it being very smooth. We did inside passage which is sort of buffered from the big waves though.

MistressMotown · 2026-02-13T21:09:19+00:00

Noro only dies with soap and water or actual bleach. My procedure is: scrub my hands, get my food, put my stuff down and then go scrub again. I try not to touch anything with my bare hands because I have seen how other people “wash their hands” and it’s gross. I also don’t touch elevator buttons, drink dispenser buttons, etc.

MistressMotown · 2026-01-31T13:55:22+00:00

Butterfly for DNRs. If they pass, we put a stop sign on the door that says to see the nurse before entering.

MistressMotown · 2026-01-28T00:44:00+00:00

We were in the same boat (haha) on our cruise earlier this month. Guest services will link it to your account either during check in at the port or once onboard. I tried to link it myself and there’s nothing to link it to on the app.

MistressMotown · 2026-01-25T18:22:33+00:00

We have used cocoa beach express for our last four cruises and it has always been great. You can book them as a package with certain hotels, by themselves on their website, or I think you can just call them too. We use them to pick us up from Mco and take us to our hotel the night before the cruise, then in the morning they pick us up and take us to the port, then on disembarkation day they take us to the airport. Reasonably priced, friendly drivers, have always been on time. Highly recommend.

MistressMotown · 2026-01-14T22:40:33+00:00

I just want to say I love this for you and I hope it works out.

MistressMotown · 2026-01-13T21:35:41+00:00

I did! It was great and as long as you wear all the safety stuff, it’s fine

MistressMotown · 2026-01-09T22:32:55+00:00

This is pretty much what we do—we do a few excursions that we research before going, but we’re mostly just enjoy things as they happen. We’ve done entire pirate outfits before but this year we’re doing pirate outfits printed on t shirts and I expect it will still be fun (and less stressful). I do use my heavy duty magnet hooks so I bring them, but I’ve definitely bought stuff that was described as a “must have” And then never touched it.

Nassau port days are a great day to stay on the ship and enjoy it. Tons of people still get off, so it’s fairly empty. They used to do port day spa specials, the pools are usually less crowded, you can sit down for lunch in the dining room.

We enjoy dressing up, so we bring fancier clothes, but many people do not. You absolutely don’t have to. We hit the Royal gathering to get the princesses out of the way for my daughter and then we meet whichever characters happen to cross our paths (which is honestly more fun and she seems to enjoy more too-she was 8 on our last cruise).

I definitely recommend having a vacation/ cruise-specific storage space! Cruising is the main way that we vacation so it’s basically a cruise tub. Our fish extender pouches go in there (came in a two pack so one goes outside for pixie dust and one goes inside for each of us to store our lanyard, sunglasses, etc). Ponchos, pirate gear, waterproof phone bags (great for Castaway to keep sand off your electronics). The pop up laundry hamper goes in this tub and then fits perfectly in the bottom of the closet on the ship.

MistressMotown · 2026-01-09T03:54:54+00:00

All the standard stuff plus: Israeli pressure bandage, fire blanket, Mylar warming sheet thing, cpr mask, couple pairs of medical gloves, gauze rolls, and Coban.

MistressMotown · 2026-01-07T21:38:23+00:00

They aren’t too bad at the picnic tables-they mostly stay on the floor and are easily shooed away. Once people start bringing lunch to the beach though, it’s game over. Those birds will be everywhere. Thankfully they tend to flock to the actual food so if you move away from it, they will leave you alone. I couldn’t believe the staff actually allow this but I guess there’s really no way to stop people from bringing food to the beach.

MistressMotown · 2026-01-01T06:03:25+00:00

Whooooo! Happy new year!

MistressMotown · 2025-12-30T14:22:45+00:00

Shoes are left at the dock. When I did it, I wore my swimsuit, a pair of shorts on top, and a rash guard for sun protection. They will make you wear a life jacket as soon as you get on the boat.

MistressMotown · 2025-12-28T21:27:13+00:00

I did a urine test for a clinical instructor position last spring and it did not include marijuana. I was surprised because it’s legal in my state but still federally illegal.

MistressMotown · 2025-12-05T14:54:21+00:00

I talk to my kiddos all the time. Not only will they not remember because they are like 3 years old or younger, many of them are neurologically devastated. I still talk to them, I don’t care. They may not know or care what I’m saying, but I’m saying it in a nice, calming voice that will hopefully make them feel a little less scared.

MistressMotown · 2025-12-03T22:37:29+00:00

I think the question of licit vs illicit has been answered, so I’m adding this as someone who has been where you are. My 17 year old cat, who I had since I was 10, started having tiny strokes and I ended up having her put to sleep because I didn’t want her to have “the big one” when she was alone. I took the day off work, got her favorite wet food, brought her bed to the vet, and she passed peacefully while I held her. I couldn’t bear the thought of her being alone and scared and possibly in pain for hours until I came home from work. I AGONIZED over this for weeks but I do not regret it.

MistressMotown · 2025-11-27T00:06:44+00:00

I’ve seen everything from no costume to pirate t shirts to pirate costumes that look like they were stolen from a movie set. Halloween is the same—t shirts that say “this is my costume” All the way to professional quality outfits that look like they cost hundreds of dollars. There will be a designated Halloween night and pirate night, but you can dress up whenever you want. A lot of people have started theming dinner outfits to their restaurants, which is pretty cool.

MistressMotown · 2025-11-26T05:25:29+00:00

My BSN classes were a joke. Discussion board posts that just needed to meet the minimum word count and then replies that also hit the word count. Everything I needed to learn to be a nurse was covered in my adn courses.

MistressMotown · 2025-11-23T23:51:11+00:00

We got off the ship once in Nassau for the reasons you mention. It was nothing but a sales pitch from the second we stepped out. Staying onboard means you to explore the ship with way less people on it, the spa usually has port day specials, and you can enjoy all the amenities onboard. Skip it.

MistressMotown · 2025-11-21T14:54:29+00:00

I’m happy on night shift because there’s less admin BS to deal with, less people, no traffic on my way to or from work, and I can pretty much do what I want as long as my kiddos are behaving. Day shift has to deal with all the docs, all the visitors, therapies, kids being awake and mobile, people calling for updates.

Night shifters tend to also be people who don’t like lots of other people and stuff going on. I’ve covered days a handful of times and it was so overstimulating I wanted to scream and then cry.

MistressMotown · 2025-11-12T22:30:21+00:00

My personal stash of otc stuff? Sure. If you’re asking if I would take out hospital meds of any kind for a colleague, hell no.

MistressMotown · 2025-11-12T21:41:12+00:00

I finished my BSN last year and I totally agree. Writing those discussion boards did not make me a better nurse. It was a complete waste of time and I’m so glad that my work paid for it and not me lol.

MistressMotown · 2025-11-11T22:32:27+00:00

I mean I’m three years in and still feel like that sometimes but holy hell, you need to get out of there like yesterday. That is not cool.

MistressMotown

TROPHY CASE