if your babies were in the NICU

RoAnt05

was anyone other than you and DH allowed to see them? My parents and in-laws will be at the hospital in the waiting room waiting for the babies to be born.  If they need to spend time in the NICU, I am wondering if it even makes sense to have anyone at the hospital waiting for them to be born if no one will be able to see them.

 

omalley

My nephew was born at 26 weeks (in Virginia) and we were allowed in the NICU but for a very quick visit. 

I am not sure if the grandparents were able to spend a bit more time in there but they should be able to get at least a short visit during specific hours.

Hopefully you won't even have to deal with that issue and they can visit your babies in your room with you!  That is what I am hoping for too.

hollyoid7

The NICU doc said parents and grandparents only that first day. Anyone else was fine the next day. But we just kept it to grandparents, and godparents.

RobynK

They were in the NICU for 4 hours for observation -- DH was allowed to bring my sister in to see them (she was the only other person at the hospital).

Kalki

Grandparents were allowed to see the babies without us at any point. We just have to give the NICU their names first. Other people were allowed in 2 at a time as long as they were with us.

lajolla09.30.06

We could bring whomever we wanted provided that we were with them.  We each got one visitor at a time, so if both of us went we could bring 2 visitors.  My sister and her fiance and my brother in law and his girlfriend all came the first night (in addition to us and my parents)

CMW

We could bring anyone we wanted (and have up to 4 people in the room at once).  We could also fill out a form to allow others in the room when we were not there, the doctor had to sign off on it (although we did not end up doing this because one of us was always with visitors). 

I found the less visitors the better.  On Christmas day we allowed some friends and family in and it was just way too much stimulation for him (combined with all of the nurses, lights, buzzers and beeps).

april062604

we limited our visitors...but we had 26 weekers who were in a very critical care area of the nicu. ?i didn't want to bring the germs or stimulation near my children or any other children in the area...so to answer your question...it was just me and DH with an occasional "pop in and peek" visit from our parents and siblings. ?once they were in a step-down room and much more stable our parents and siblings visited with us about once a week. ?what i really tried to stress to everyone was that it wasn't a place to talk loudly and visit long...it's an intensive care unit no matter how you cut it.

jk43008

when i was checking out of the hospital, our nicu gave us a form where we filled out a few names that were able to go back and see the babies even if we werent there.  we put the grandparents and my best friend on it.  it was nice because a few times my parents went to see them when i was at home.  it made me feel better to have someone there with them.  when we were there we were allowed to bring people back 2 at a time. 

kimby3679

People were allowed to go in 2 at a time (in addition to us) to see them. My hospital had grandparents days so they could see them w/o us if they wanted. My parents got to see them as soon as they were settled in the nicu.

Mrs.McJeep

It really depends on your NICU.  When my one son was in the Level 3 NICU it was only dh and I and grandparents allowed in, and we had to fill out form to allow them.

When he was moved to their Level 2 NICU, we could bring anyone we wanted in (one person at a time with one of us) over the age of 14.

PianoPlayingSarah

I think it depends on the NICU.  Anna was there b/c of her surgeries but we had no limits on visitors.  A week into her stay, we brought her sisters and my parents in for a visit.  No issues. 

jd0614

We were allowed 2 people at a time.  So, when grandparents were there, one of us would go in with them.  No one was allowed to see our babies though for 24 hours b/c I had an infection when they were born. 

jlc071903

Yes, we had to make a list of acceptable people to visit and any people NOT on the list had to be approved by us while we were THERE.  However, when our girls were first born and in the special care nursery at the hospital before they were transferred to the other NICU at another hospital, no one could see them except DH (well, I could have but I was too busy throwing up from my meds for the c/s....unfortunately I did this all afternoon, but they brought the girls to see ME before they left (in their transfer isolettes)).

pea-kay

once the boys were born, they were whisked past the crowd waiting outside the OR and up to the NICU, so grandparents were able to get a quick glimpse at them. but no one got to see them until i got to see them, 24 hours after their birth. (DH was sick, so he couldn't go, otherwise obviously he could have.) and then we filled out paperwork saying who could visit without us there. but we didn't do that until they were a couple of days old, so it's kind of irrelevant to your question. i'd ask the hospital what their policy is.

loree

the first night were only allowed in briefly and we were allowed one visitor per baby other than us.

lstaylor73

My guys were born at 28wks 6days.  We knew we would be very early so we told our relatives we would call them when we were ready to see people because we didn't know how we'd feel, especially if things went wrong.  The NICU had a policy of one guest per room that must be accompanied by a parent at all times, with no more than two visitors, parents included, in the room at any time.  Since we had two NICU rooms with connecting door we were able to take my MIL and FIL together. 

 

krstyqt

At my hospital they had windows that looked into the NICU that were also closed with the blinds down.  We had a huge group of people waiting for us to get out of the c-section room and the nurses were nice enought to open the blind so all the visitors could look.  We were also given 8 passes to give out otherwise any visitors would have to walkin with us. 

Dsugaree

I had my girls at 25 weeks and we were only allowed 2 people at a time in the NICU - no children but my parent's, ILs came the next day, my sister went in - it was fine.

meldoo2002

DH was able to go up to the NICU about 3 hours after the boys were born.  They were doing assessments up to that point.  My ILs and my mom also went up to see the boys later the day they were born.  I wasn't able to go see them for 2 days because of post partum bleeding/magnesium oxide issues.