Intro and a Vent!

jennbent

Hi Ladies -

I've been lurking on this board for the past few months, but have never posted before.  I spent 3 weeks in the hospital in May before giving birth to DS via c-section at 28 weeks.  He was suffering from severe IUGR due to a crappy placenta.  He weighed 1 lb. 3 oz at birth and has spent the last 51 days in the NICU.  The great news is that he's had a relatively smooth ride...and now at 35 weeks, he's up to 2 lbs 11 oz, off of all respiratory assistance and starting to take bottles.

We are very fortunate that he is doing so well, and last night, he was moved to NICU II!  This was very exciting for us.  I'm not sure how other NICU II units are set up, but ours is comprised of a bunch of patient rooms with their doors kept open, all down one long hallway.  There are two babies to a room, and our DS does, in fact, have a little roommate. 

Here's the vent... we came in today and his roommate is being discharged.  His mother was there to pick him up/sign paperwork, etc., and over the couple of hours that we were there... we gradually started noticing that she seemed to be coughing a lot.  Not just an "I have a tickle in my throat cough"...it was more of a "I have bronchitis/whooping cough/hacking up a lung" cough.  She wasn't wearing a mask and she was sitting not only feet from her baby, but just feet away from MINE!  

I was so upset that I started getting tears in my eyes, so DH and I left.  We called our nurse from the car to complain and her response was that she understand what we were saying and that it would be taken care of.  I am so upset!  I was pretty much losing it in the car.  Having a baby in the NICU and not being able to protect him from ignorant and irresponsible people like her is beyond frustrating and upsetting.  I am also disappointed in myself that I didn't confront her directly at the time - I am not a very assertive person, but I feel like I should've been for his sake.

How should we follow up with the NICU when we head back there tonight?  I don't want to seem like the crazy mom, but I feel like this warrants being a little overprotective.  Would you ask to be moved to a different room?  Ask that it be given a deep cleaning?  Try to sanitize it yourself?  Or just drop it since she was discharged, and just hope they did something about it after she left?

Thanks and sorry that my first post is a vent.  I hope I don't sound crazy.  I will start posting more, and especially after he comes home.  Right now is just a busy time...with lots of driving back and forth to the hospital.  But I want to say that you all have been a source of great inspiration for me, and I've learned a lot from this board in the 3 months since I started reading it.

jennbent

Good grief that was a long post I just wrote!!!  Sorry!

Missa_g

Our NICU had a sick policy that was strictly enforced, if you showed any signs of being sick you were asked to leave.  Perhaps she has a medical condition that causes coughing?  In any case I would mention it to the charge nurse.  The NICU's are generally kept very clean and sanitized well after babies leave.  If its giving you anxiety don't hesitate to speak up about it.

kck329

First, welcome and congrats on your son! It's great that he has moved to the level II nursery!

I totally get why you are upset about the other mom--I would have freaked too. Does your NICU have a screening policy? We had to check in every day before going into the unit and they always asked about cold symptoms. If that isn't happening, I would ask about. I would also talk to the nurse to see what your options are. Maybe because the baby was going discharged, the mom was allowed in when she wouldn't have been otherwise? Even so, that puts your baby at risk so its not ok.

As far as his room, I would ask for things to be wiped down and probably do it myself too. But then we were the crazy people who basically sanitized our DD's area every day just because there were lots of nurses/doctors/etc around. 

Finally, ::hugs:: to you because watching your son's roommate go home must be emotional. I know those were always hard days for me. 

jennbent

No, no screening policy that I am aware of.  I will ask about it, as well as talk to the charge nurse or supervisor this evening about sanitizing his room or doing it ourselves!

I'm just so astounded that people can be that insensitive to the other babies and families around them.  I'm glad she's being discharged and hopefully we will get another family next with some common sense!

jennbent

BostonKisses2:

Welcome and congrats!  I'm glad your LO is doing relatively well so far!

You did the right thing by saying something to the nurses.  Don't feel disappointed about not confronting the other mother - TBH, that's not your place to do that.  Yes, you are your child's advocate, but you should leave situations like that for the neos and nurses to take care of (which you did, so that's good!).  If you can, call the NICU and see if you can talk with a neo about the situation, and see what they think.  It's possible that the nurses are already in there sanitizing the space since they're aware of the situation (again, I would not sanitize it yourself - they will take care of that, as they have special solutions that they use and all).  I completely understand your frustration - I would've reacted very similarly!

I hope the remainder of your LO's NICU journey is as short and uneventful as possible! 

Boston - thanks for making me feel better about not saying anything.  :-)  We will talk to one of the neos about it this evening.

jennifer1w

That lady should have known better then that. When I was sick I didn"t go to NICU I just called through out the day. I didn't want to get my DS sick or someone else's LO. I am sorry that happened to you. Congrats on DS!

Cst2CstBride

Just to play Devil's Advocate- My dad has horrible asthma and allergies.  He takes several medications/breathing treatments which sort-of control his symptoms.  When he was visiting in the NICU he was really worried that people would think he was sick.  Fortunately our RN used to be an RT and instantly knew it was asthma. But I'm sure the other parents didn't.

I totally get being upset that the mom may have been sick. It would be awful and thoughtless of her to come to the unit sick and risk the other babies' health.  If she really came to the unit ill, I don't think confronting her directly, on the unit, would have been the best approach since she clearly didn't consider the other babies' health.  Bringing it up with the staff and MD sound like a good approach. I'm sure they will be able to advise you on what measures, if any, can/should be taken to protect your LO after the fact.

alitria

I was recently the coughing mom in our NICU.  I got sick right before I had our baby and did spend a week away from the NICU while I was sick and wasn't able to see my son.  I then did go back and still had a cough.  I'd been under a doctor's care, I hadn't had fever for days and since I have asthma any time I get a respiratory infection the cough will cause my asthma to flare and linger for days.  It was completely safe for me to be there, even though I sounded bad. While I usually had on a mask any time I was in the NICU, I was very cautious about going near my baby or anyone else's when I could have been any sort of danger.  However, it's been several weeks and I still occasionally cough.  I usually wore a mask just to reassure others, but honestly it wasn't necessary for health reasons.  I understand being worried, but a cough that sounds bad isn't necessarily a health risk for your baby.