The Romaezis

The Gang’s ALL Here!

I’ll start this blog by getting straight to the point. Kamran is HOME!!

After 33 days in the NICU, the doctors and nurses finally agreed that our boy could come home this past Sunday. It is SO nice to be sleep deprived and I’m only coming off night number 2. I haven’t updated in a while and a lot has happened since my last post. The biggest update other than the homecoming is that Kayvan and I transferred Kamran to a smaller NICU a bit closer to home on the 13th. I woke up on the 9th to learn that Kam had a Brady after 48 hours Brady free and I lost it, called Kayvan in a tizzy and said we need to move him. To which Kayvan responded, “We ca do that?!” The NICU stay really takes a toll on a parent. Constant emotions and running back and forth it’s a true roller coaster ride. You want nothing but your baby but can’t have him. You have sleep deprivation even though there isn’t a crying baby in your home.  The biggest thing for me was not being able to be there with Kamran 24/7.  I was allowed to but I had to sleep.  The NICU stay made me feel like a horrible parent.  I had to be okay with these other people being his primary caregiver.  I worried that he would bond with them more than he did me.  I can’t possible describe the spectrum of thoughts, feelings and emotions I went through with Kamran in the NICU.  On the outside I carried it with as much positivity as I could.  At home I talked to Kayvan about my feelings since I know we were both going through the same thing.  No longer able to tolerate feeling the way we did, we took a tour of the NICU closer to home and transferred the boy to the hospital 5 minutes away. The new NICU was MUCH smaller and much more laid back.  They only had a total of 8 beds.  EIGHT!  The NICU we were at is one of the biggest and best on the east coast and just one room alone had 15 beds…and they had plenty more than just one room of babies.  When I last asked, the census at our old hospital was low and they had 68 babies in the NICU.  Though the new NICU had 8 beds, they only had 4 babies max at a time while we were there.  Needless to say, we had a bit of culture shock.

Kamran was in isolation the first few days so he got the only isolation room. That privacy was nice. Once his mrsa test came back negative (they screen all transfers) they let us keep the room since they didn’t think he would be there long and they didn’t need it for anything else. Before I knew it, most of the staff was asking “Did I hear maybe Sunday?” the doctor didn’t mention the possibility to me until very late Friday. Of course the nurses did, but they don’t write the discharge order so I didn’t believe them…and told them so. I was amazed that once Kam got to the new NICU they told me that they don’t record feed related desats or bradies and even mature babies brady when they’re choking.  A scary idea when you’re coming from the conservative school of thought we were.  Kam’s last brady was at 2 a.m. on April 13th and we said toodles to the hospital April 17th.  Well, technically we said more than toodles in our head, at least in my head the farewell was a bit more profane.

We were SO happy that the doctors were serious about Kamran coming home this weekend.  Saturday, when I realized the doctors were serious I ran out to Babies R Us for a few last minute things and the ever important coming home outfit.  We bought one when we were originally told Kam may be home soon over two weeks ago but he was in preemie sized clothes then and they no longer fit.  My main goal was to get a Moby wrap and am I glad I did!  Kamran loves that thing and so do I!  Some people have said that using it can be equated to rocket science but really it isn’t tough to use at all.  Just a lot of fabric.

The first night home was a bit nuts as expected.  Kamran stuck to the wonderful schedule of eating every 3 hours that the nurses had him on until about 11 p.m.  From there it was every hour…or every 10  minutes.  Whichever he preferred.  I did my best to be the one to get up.  Kayvan had the next day off but he is back to work otherwise so I wanted to get used to it.  That idea was IMPOSSIBLE.  I’m so glad Kayvan took the first day off because I needed the help.  At about 3 a.m., after my 100th trip to the basinette I proclaimed to Kayvan that I just couldn’t do it and he took him downstairs to soothe him and give me an hour to sleep.  I expected all of this.  Kayvan I assume did not because when we finally got out of bed at 11 a.m. I got a big hug and a “hunny I’m so sorry” from him.  I just laughed and told him that’s normal baby stuff.

Kamran had his first pediatrician appointment on Monday and that went well enough.  It’s the first time I have been to a doctor’s office and didn’t see a single person in the waiting room.  THAT was fantastic.  Either there just aren’t many sick kids right now or this office makes a habit of shoving them into the room before the next person arrives.  The doctor wanted to hold off on his shots until next week so back we go on Monday.

What does the rest of the household think of the baby?  Sookie doesn’t understand the noises the little guy makes since she is capable of the same sounds but he looks nothing like her.  She has always been great with kids but she is much more mothering than I expected…or maybe it is curiosity…or possibly the “shut that thing up” factor.  I put him in the swing to run to the bathroom at which point Kamran started getting slightly fussy and grunty.  She walked over to the swing, sat next to it and just looked at me like “The thing is noisy again!”  I think he is keeping her up at night too, she just put herself in her crate for a nap.  Jaxie cat severely dislikes this new thing but very much enjoys exploring his nursery for nooks and crannies to hide in.  We keep the baby’s door closed when none of us are in there but somehow he manages to open the door and let himself right on in.  Jax attempts to crawl in bed with me and Kayvan at night but the first time a sound comes from the basinette he bolts.  Funny considering the day before Kamran came home Jax whacked a sleeping Sookie in the face because she wanted to cuddle with Kayvan.

I’m so happy the NICU ride is OVER and I’m NOT going back.