Neonatologist and NICU Tour

Today we met with a Neonatologist at Saint Francis.  He spent a near solid hour with us.  First he went over what he sees as the primary concern with Rowan.  He showed us pictures and recommended a few websites. 

Then he went on to explain what we can expect from birth – onward.  There will be a team of 4 for Rowan waiting outside the delivery room.  When he’s born, the nurse will take him out to be cleaned off and quickly assessed.  Then they will be bring him back into the room so I can see and hold him for a little while.

After that, they will take him to the NICU in the Children’s Hospital where the echocardiogram machine will be waiting outside his room for them to scan his heart and primary vessels to map out what they are dealing with as well as the pressure/flow strength, etc.  My husband will be able to stay with him throughout all of the testing they have to do.  He’ll be given an IV through the umbilical cord opening that will deliver prostaglandins, a hormone that will keep a small vessel (large in his case) open to help mix blood together so his body receives enough oxygen.  He will also be hooked up to a heart monitor.

That’s quite possibly all he’ll have.

They’ll send his heart study down to cardiology and on the first Friday after he is born a team will meet to decide on the best course of treatment.

Best case – he looks good, they slowly wean him off prostaglandins, he stays good, we go home and just take him to visit the cardiologist as frequently as needed.  He’ll likely be in the hospital at least a week BUT kiddos in the special NICU don’t have to wear the horrible “don’t steal the baby” bracelets

Rowan will have his own room in the NICU where we will have 24/7 visitation.  They also have a daybed and chair for us.  They even told us that Evelyn can come visit him for 30-60 minutes every day to see her baby brother!

Basically, the neonatologist made us feel like this is TOTALLY manageable.  While Rowan coming to us with these needs seems scary and new to us, they care for heart children frequently and are more than prepared to make this as easy a possible on our family. 

They told us that socks, mittens, and leggings he can wear right away.  He can have blankets.  They’ll put him in clothes as soon as possible, but he might need an IV in his arm eventually or leads for a monitor, so they recommend button ups so they can leave his arm out.

I guess when you get to the point you don’t know how to stay positive – it’s about time for tons of good news.  The last two days have been awesome for us.  We can totally do this.  We have an amazing team of doctors and nurses who are going to guide us through this and do everything they can to help Rowan come home quickly.