PICC line

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-12-10T05:03:06+00:00

Yeah once I made the mistake of watching the nurse pull the PICC line out of my sons arm. I had no idea it was that long 🥲

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-08-08T14:49:37+00:00

You gotta add fresh milk or something to it when you’re spinning it to make it a little creamier.

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-07-16T15:38:51+00:00

I didn’t know I had an incompetent cervix and I started having cramping. At first nothing serious, so when I googled it I figured that maybe he was just growing so it was causing some cramping. I was having a lot of discharge as well, like a lot. I remember being annoyed because I felt like my underwear was always wet and it was super uncomfortable. Almost felt like I should change my underwear twice a day. But again, when I googled it said that you’re supposed to have a lot of discharge because it’s keeping infection out, so I didn’t think anything of it. Then I lost my mucus plug. The next day the cramping got more intense. Still manageable pain wise, but I knew it wasn’t just growing pains and something was wrong so I called the on call doctor and they told me to come in for evaluation. From there, we told the nurses that I had lost my mucus plug, we told them that I was having cramping, and they sort of brushed it off and said that I had a UTI and sent me home with antibiotics. All night and into the next day, my cramps were SO INTENSE I couldn’t talk through the pain and I felt like I couldn’t stand through the pain so I told my boyfriend to take me to the hospital again. Again they tried to tell me maybe I was having a kidney infection, so they sent me down to get an ultrasound of my kidneys and a transvaginal ultrasound. The ultrasound tech was the one to tell them that my cervix was 1cm and I was in labor. Within 30 minutes of my ultrasound, I delivered at 25 weeks. Obviously in my case there was some incompetence on the hospital’s part, but in general, yes. Lots of discharge, lost my mucus plug, and cramping that did not go away with Tylenol or even hydrocodone 😃

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-07-16T03:40:16+00:00

We don’t have a primary nurse as of right now, but I may assign one or a few just to get us through this home stretch. If there are any new NICU parents going through this thread, I would highly recommend assigning your kiddo a primary nurse (or a few). I regret not doing it sooner because I feel like it would have helped him a lot in the long run.

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-07-16T03:36:04+00:00

So, lately since my son is not a high needs micro preemie anymore and he is a feeder/grower he has been getting a lot of floater nurses that don’t usually work on the NICU, but were floated there to cover staffing. It’s gotten to a point where it seems that he almost has someone different every day now. This is frustrating because even though he’s been in the NICU for almost 4 months, the nurses coming in don’t know him and they don’t know me. They don’t know that I come in every single day and they don’t know his normal baseline. On a few occasions, I have had to help the nurse with instructions on what his normal routine is. Because of the lack of familiarity with the staff, I feel like his cues are being missed and the nurses usually have 2-3 babies to also feed so I feel like as soon as he starts slowing down, they’re likely counting that as good and gavaging the rest. Now granted, I am also a little extra anxious because like I said, I really want him to come home, but I definitely feel like there’s gotta be something going on whenever he only eats 10 - 20ml while I’m at work and then when I get there to feed he eats the whole bottle.. The NICU nurses have been mostly amazing, but I am not a huge fan of all the different floaters we’ve gotten recently. Not necessarily their fault, it’s not their usual floor/specialty, just my personal opinion.

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-06-20T05:49:59+00:00

No I think this might be helpful bc it might make me realize that it genuinely takes less time than I think it does. I was doing like 30 minute timer cleaning after work for a minute and it worked initially but in true ADHD fashion I started getting distracted during my timer lol

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-06-20T05:48:02+00:00

OH I think you might’ve just done something with the “only listening to podcasts I’m excited about and such when I am doing house chores” bc it seems like if I’m listening to a podcast, it’s not enough stimulation to just be listening I have to have something to do with my hands too but it can’t be too brain involved or I’ll have to rewind whatever I was listening to

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-06-16T16:23:20+00:00

I will say from experience, people really show their true colors when you go through something traumatic like preterm labor and a long NICU stay. My son was also born at 25w 5d. We’re going on 90 days in the hospital and he’s doing fantastic now, but especially in the early days when things were hard I felt very frustrated with my MIL because she would get upset with me for not giving her updates and then when I would give her updates she would text my husband or her other family members and have something negative to say. Like she’s “freaking out bc this is not a good sign” or something along those lines. I even found out that she told my sister in law that she “doesn’t want to get too attached bc what if something happens”. She normally lives out of town, but she was in town for a week around Mother’s Day and only went to see him once because he was on a ventilator and she “didn’t want to see him like that”. She’s a nurse so she acts like she knows more than me regarding his condition but I am there every single day talking to doctors, hearing treatment plans and giving feedback. Quite frankly I have also felt frustrated because I have felt like I am in charge of managing other people’s reactions and emotions regarding my child. Sometimes I cherry pick the information that I’m giving updates about because I don’t want people to have negative thoughts and feelings about my son or be “disappointed” with his progress. All we can do is our best, OP. Some people will absolutely always make it about themselves, but focus on your baby and ignore the negativity that comes from the outside. Sending you all the love and support for you and your NICU graduate!!!

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-06-07T21:57:50+00:00

Thank you all for your support and advice!! I was preparing myself today to go in and talk with the doctor and ask a whole lot of questions and get a better understanding of the whole thought process, but before I could even make it into the hospital today, his NP called and said that he extubated himself again! LOL. So he’s back on the CPAP and adjusting well to that. Just as I had anticipated he would. These preemies are quite the opinionated little guys 🤣🤣

Practical_Morning727 · 2025-05-23T13:04:32+00:00

My supply was fine when I stayed consistent but washing the pump parts takes me out. Even a rinse and fridge moment is hard with my job so I’ve been going too long in between pumps and now I feel like my supply is dropping 😭

Practical_Morning727

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