Matt and I toured the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UK today. This is where Gianna will go immediately after she's born, and likely where we'll be spending a LOT of our time in the weeks to follow. The NICU will have a resuscitation team present when she's born and will take her straight to the unit for monitoring and whatever else she may need. They will decide when she's stable enough to get her MRI and have the surgery, and once that's over, she'll go back to the NICU for as long as she needs to be there.
We were really pleased with the tour. It's a large unit and very organized. I believe there's around 60 infant beds with 6 babies per room and one nurse is assigned to every 1-3 babies so they are monitored very closely at all times. We learned about all the visiting rules,etc. It's a very "controlled" environment, which is understandable. Their number one priority is making sure the babies are ok. Lisa, who gave us the tour, said that Gianna will definitely be one of the largest babies there, even if she's born today! Most of the babies are there due to being born prematurely, others have surgical needs like Gianna's, and a variety of other conditions. She said they care for babies every year who have encephaloceles and she said they will be 100% ready to take care of her whenever she's born. I love the confidence - it definitely makes me feel better!
My ultrasound earlier this week was a good news/bad news experience. It showed that Gianna is definitely growing (she's 4.6 pounds now), but that her percentile for her gestational age has dropped. She was at the 42nd percentile at my last appointment, and now she's at the 26th percentile, so I think that means her rate of growth has slowed down. Her heart, kidneys, and lungs look good and they could even see that she is "practicing" breathing already. The encephalocele is a bit larger and there is more hydrocephalus present than at my last scan. I'll have another ultrasound in 2 weeks and will plan on delivery sometime between 37 and 39 weeks (Sept 22 - Oct. 6) depending on how she's doing.
I'm really grateful that we live in Lexington, and that I work and UK and am delivering there. We are in the absolute best place possible - I can't imagine how hard it is for families who have to travel long distances to stay with their babies in the NICU. Gianna is going to be very well taken care of there.
It isn't bad news that her gestational growth has slowed. Thank goodness Audrey did the same thing because early on she was in like the 100th percentile! They were worried I was going to have a super big baby and I got extra ultrasound monitoring. Luckily her rate slowed dramatically toward the end and she was a mere 8 pounds 12 ounces. Whew. :) So happy to hear you had a nice tour. I agree that their confidence must make you feel even better!
ReplyDeleteAmy and Matt, please know that I think of you often and pray for the whole family. And my friend at the Hallmark store asks everytime I come in how Gianna is doing. She also prays for baby Gianna.
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