No power in my NICU today

AnneUCSB

SOOOO crazy.  Onethe top Children's Hospitals in the nation and the  of generator blew at noon today.  You'd think here in the heart of high-tech and civilization, we could get a friggin generator that worked.  The entire city was in a power outage due to a local plane crash but our unit was running on a power generator...until noon.  Then, critical care babies were left with no power, no monitor, no isolettes warmth, etc.  It was quite a crazy day for me at work, just helping out to make sure everyone was breathing and doing ok.  Glad to be home and so glad the power finally came back on at 6pm this evening.  I'm tired.

chelle828

OMG seriously??  I can't imagine.  Were they bagging babies for 6 hours? 

summerbrideDC

I was wondering if you were working and how your day was.  I cannot imagine how stressful that had to be.  I'd have a few sips of wine!  

KellyMichelle

How scary!  Were all the babies ok?

penguingrrl

OMG how scary!  I hope the babies are okay!

soontobemomma

How scary!  Glad to hear all the babies were okay.

ellemoney:)

OMG! How exhausting for you guys and the babies too! Did they get it back on?

?

eta:?clearly my reading?comprehension skills are not good today...??

AnneUCSB

The power was out for 12 hours, 6 of those hours the generator was out.  Fortunately, we have 2 levels to our NICU and the highest level unit (with the babies on oscillators, ECMO, and ventilators) remained on generator power (apparently running on a separate generator) and the lower level intermediate unit (where I was today) was the one that lost power.  The oxygen was provided by portable tanks and they were able to find portable battery-powered monitors for most of the babies (that were more critical).  The other ones were just watched very carefully.  

Everyone made it through the day ok, but it was pretty crazy.  I didn't get a bathroom break or a chance to eat until 3pm (I'd been there since 9) and they had to bring in food from outside cities because the WHOLE city was down and no restaurants or cafeterias were open.  Did I mention I'm tired?

summerbrideDC

You don't work tomorrow, right? I hope you get a good night's sleep! I have my IUI in the morning, but if you want to bring the boys over to play in the afternoon (and go home and take a nap! LOL) we'd love to have them!  (or you can come & stay, but a nap might be nice!)

AnneUCSB

summerbrideDC:

You don't work tomorrow, right? I hope you get a good night's sleep! I have my IUI in the morning, but if you want to bring the boys over to play in the afternoon (and go home and take a nap! LOL) we'd love to have them!  (or you can come & stay, but a nap might be nice!)

Oh, Sarah, you're so sweet!  You're the one that needs sleep after your back to back IUI's.  I actually have to take the boys for a photo shoot in the morning and then Eric is off with his cousin in the afternoon (and Kyle will nap) so hopefully I can get some rest in then!  You guys around this weekend?  Maybe we can do a Round Table Pizza night? 

summerbrideDC

Okay, I"m glad you're going to get a little bit of down time tomorrow!  I had been thinking of leaving E at school a little later tomorrow so I could rest, but I actually felt pretty good today after this IUI, so hopefully I will tomorrow as well.  

We should definitely do a pizza night soon, but this weekend we've got friends coming in from out of town (friday morning thru next Wed).  Maybe the following weekend?! Ethan is not at all happy w/ how long it's been since he's seen Eric and Kyle! LOL 

AnneUCSB

Definitely let me know when you're available.  The boys keep watching video clips of Ethan and themselves that they took with my Flip camera last time Ethan was over.  After they watch the clips they keep demanding we see E again soon