Penelope had a quiet day. She was 3lbs 5.4oz, she was given more diuretic, and we got to do 90 minutes of kangaroo. The nurses urged me to leave the hospital for lunch because it was nice outside. So I went to Sonic and ate with the windows down. When I came back from lunch I checked out a laptop and was going to write my blog since there wasn't much going on. After spending 2 hours trying to figure out what to write I gave up and played "Fruit Ninja" on my tablet. I am hopelessly addicted to that game.
A few minutes before 6, as I was changing Penelope's diaper, the charge nurse came in and told us we needed to hurry up. I looked at the shift nurse and she was just as confused as me. The charge nurse then informed us that we were being moved to Bay 2 ASAP. They needed to turn over the room in under an hour. The nurse got Penelope's bed ready for 'transport', meaning she attached the IV strip to the bed, one RT (respiratory therapist) came in to administer oxygen with a bag, and another RT took off with her vent. I quick grabbed the few personal items we had in the room and I followed the baby train while pushing Penelope's supply cart. When I say baby train, I do mean train. The baby who was 'first out' was being moved at the same time. There was a string of 10 people to move two babies down the hall and around a corner.
This morning there were two open beds (not sure how that happened), and we were still 'second out'. By 9am one bed had been filled. This afternoon I had heard mention of a baby coming by transport and the other empty bed was being readied. Suddenly there were also two deliveries expected within the hour which is why there was no warning or time.
I decided to stop back over after supper for my own peace of mind. I know that her chart went with her, but the move was incredibly chaotic. It happened very close to shift change on the last day of the month. So our shift nurse and doctor from Bay 1 had to report to their equivalent in Bay 2. Then 30 minutes later there was a shift change, so it happened again. At 7am there will be another shift change, and then at 8am there will be a new rotation of doctors because it's a new month. I just needed to make sure that everything was under control.
The night nurse apologized for the chaos of the move, and filled me on what had gone on since the move. Penelope had been sleeping and didn't even seem to notice that the baby on the other side of the curtain had been crying (it's so weird to hear babies crying!). At 9pm they were going to discontinue her lipids and give her an antiviral shot (all the NICU babies get one monthly as a preventative). They had extra staff on hand to help with the shots and the inevitable hours of crying that would ensue. So I kissed Penelope and left before the wave of shots started.
We spent 41 days in Bay 1, Bed 5. Tomorrow she is 6 weeks old and we start a new count! I hope the next leg of the journey is much shorter.
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