Having an Infant in NICU

Related page: Premature Babies

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Parent Q&A

  • How to function with a 4 year old while baby in NICU in SF

    – May 3, 2017
    (5 replies)

    Hello parents, after an epic struggle I have been lucky enough to get pregnant a second time, and am now coping with a very scary pregnancy. It looks like the best case scenario is for my son to stay in my belly until 34 weeks before I have to have a c section. Due to all the complications and risks I am going to UCSF's maternal fetal medicine practice for my care and barring an emergency will give birth there. I am only 25 weeks now so he may end up arriving even earlier. My older son is 4.5 and in full time preschool in Oakland where we live. I am trying to prepare myself as much as possible for coping with a traumatic birth and tiny baby not ready for the world, and for trying to parent my older son while my baby is in the NICU and I have to pump every two hours. My older son was also premature, but made it to 36 weeks so had no NICU time - I know the pumping nonstop drill but cannot fathom how I will balance anything with both children's needs. My husband only gets 1 week paid leave so it will also be a struggle to figure out what time is most precious for him to be with our new baby. My parents are planning to help with child care for my older son, but I cannot disappear from him even if he is being cared for. I would welcome any wisdom or advice about how others have coped with this situation. Thank you.

    May 3, 2017
    RE: How to function with a 4 year old while baby in NICU in SF ()

    this is so hard! I only had one kid in the NICU and no toddler at the time, but I do have a friend I'd like to put you in touch with. I also just wonder if it would be possible for your baby to be in the NICU at Children's rather than in the city? I'm sorry I couldn't figure out from the post if that's already the case. Anyway feel free to email me at amythek [at] gmail.com and I will put you in touch with my friend who did this. You're a great mom already and whatever you figure out, your kids will both be okay, just because you are being so mindful about this now. xo

    RE: How to function with a 4 year old while baby in NICU in SF ()

    I'm so sorry you that you may be facing this.  It is hard and scary.  My younger daughter was in the NICU for 6+ weeks and we had an almost 3 year old at the time.  We had some family support, but 6 weeks is a long time.  We opted to go back and forth between our home in the Oakland Hills and the City daily.  We would drop our daughter off at preschool in the morning, head for a full day at the hospital, and leave around 4:30 pm in order to pick up our oldest by 6 pm.  It was hard leaving our new baby in the hospital each day, but we didn't want to neglect our oldest.  My SIL came to the hospital a few nights a week for several hours and would hold and rock the baby, which helped me feel a bit better.  We were also fortunate enough to have 2 lovely primary NICU nurses.  I frequently called in the middle of the night to get an update while I was pumping.  We were usually at the hospital for about 12 hours/day on the weekend.  I would sit with the baby, while my husband and SIL entertained our older daughter.  We were at Parnassus, so they were able to go back and forth to Golden Gate Park quite easily.  My older daughter LOVED the nurses and LOVED going to the hospital  I would worry about her behavior, which was typical of an almost 3-year old, but every Monday morning, the staff would be asking me where our older daughter was and when she was coming back.  If you are going to go back and forth between your home and UCSF and are having a C-section, you should think about how you are going to get there if you are not able to drive right away.  I had a difficult C-section and didn't feel comfortable driving for about 2 weeks.

    RE: How to function with a 4 year old while baby in NICU in SF ()

    Engage with your son's preschool and ask them for suggestions and see if they can provide extra help. My guess is that the continuation of his regular routine will be very important with this big change occurring in his life. 

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Archived Q&A and Reviews

Questions

Care Package for Friend with Preemie in NICU

Sept 2008

I have a friend in Chicago who just had her first baby at 30 weeks. He'll be in the NICU for a couple of months and I wanted to do something helpful for her but I can't go out to visit. Does anyone have recommendations for a care package or other gift that would be particularly helpful for new parents with a baby who'll be in the NICU for a long period of time? S.

Instead of a ''care package'' how about hiring someone to clean their house, do laundry, etc. Also getting meals for them. there are some companies like 3 Potatoe 4 who will bring wonderful organic meals to their home, on whatever schedule best suits their needs, every day, every other day, whatever. If this is a bigger financial committment than you can take on, you could get together with other friends/family members & pool your funds. These *gifts* will relieve them from some of the burdens of trying to manage the household while spending as much time as possible w/the baby. Deborah

Food...Either food delivery or gift certificates for casual restaurants (better if you can get take-out) will be much appreciated. It is a long haul and the last thing you feel like doing after a day/evening at the NICU is cook. Anon

Food! Most new parents, and especially very stressed new parents will appreciate the thoughtfulness of some sort of healthy food that they don't have to prepare for themselves. Given that your friend is in a different state, this may be a bit of a challenge, but perhaps you can use the power of the internet or the assistance of one of their family members to make it happen. For example, some of those meal prep places offer already-prepared meals that can be picked up and heated up at home, or check out restaurant delivery services such as grubhub.com or takeout taxi. L

I agree that food deliveries are a great idea, but want to suggest something different. When I ended up with a preemie, I had not done ANY shopping for baby gear, let alone any research on what I would even need. How about asking the parents what they still need and offer to research, i.e. where to get a certain model of a crib for the best price, or buy a diaper bag and diapers and a diaper pail, or anything they might not have in the nursery yet. You could pool with other friends again. NICU time is really stressful

a box of soft kleenex, a pedicure, lunch brought to the hospital, a book about preemies, and a box of ''emergen-C'' former nicu mom