Liam's new home....

Over the course of the next few days, we started becoming more comfortable with this new world we were thrust into. Of course, it doesn't mean we were any less frustrated or terrified..we still really had no idea what we were up against. We kept to ourselves those first few days...the NICU is a place where some need emotional support from other parents, and others would rather just be left alone. We still hadn't figured out where we were at that point.
Liam was hooked up to every machine imaginable, he had tubes everywhere. The machines beeped, and alarms went off, and every time I just wanted to yell HELP !!!  You eventually try to tune out those beeps, the nurses train you very quickly, to look at the baby, NOT the monitor !! I remember visits with Liam, where I spent more time staring at a bunch of numbers that meant absolutely nothing to me ( at the time ), instead of focusing on this amazing little baby !!!
When Liam was born, it took them about 4 minutes to resucitate, and intubate him. Obviously, he was not going to be breathing room air, and he required the help of a ventilator. His APGAR scores were 2,4 and 5, which were very low compared to that of a full term baby, but his primary nurse soon explained that it would have been highly unlikely for a baby of his gestation to do much better. We were not allowed to hold him, but we could place a finger on his arm or leg. Stroking of the skin could cause it to tear. His incubator was kept at a approximately 39 degrees....toasty warm, to mimic the warmth of the womb. Creating an environment for these babies , that is as close to the womb as possible is the most crucial thing to their survival. Those first few days, I remember thinking "wow, how can there be this many sick babies", the NICU was a place that never stopped, families coming and going, medical staff delivering good and bad news to helpless familes, and everyone just clinging to the smallest shred of hope !!! We were told the first few days were the most crucial, and that after that babies tend to have what they call a "honeymoon phase" where things seem good, but that as much as we had to try and be optimistic and positive, we needed to stay realistic. We were told that if Liam's course was faily uneventful we were looking at being home somewhere around his due date...Nov 20th.....it was only the beginning of August !!!!