http://www.lilaussieprems.com.au/blogs/coping-post-nicu/ Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:04:47 +1000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://www.lilaussieprems.com.au/blogs/coping-post-nicu/comment-page-1/#comment-5 misslilysmumma Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:31:35 +0000 http://www.lilaussieprems.com/blogs/?p=38#comment-5 Well my baby has been home for over a year now but initially I completely fell apart. I don't think I slept for 6 months after she was home and spent a great deal of time sitting in the corner of my backyard bawling my eyes out. When we were in NICU (my DH and I lived on site for the 3 months she was there), I always had a nurse or dr or cleaner to chat to, I had people around me whjo were experiencing the same thing, the same emotions. When I came home with a sick baby on oxygen, with ng tubes and an apnoea alarm that would go off during the day and night, not to mention the 3 hourly feeds and the expressing, I was all alone. DH went back to work, my friends had no idea how to cope with the situation and I was completely isolated. Everyone said it would be easier when she was home but my PND really hit then and I was a mess. I really don't want to go too far into it as it was a horrible, bleak time for me but I found an excellent counsellor who managed to really help me and now I am 100%. It does get better I promise, they start to settle into a routine, they sleep better, they grow and put on weight, they know you and smile when they recognise you and you start to have faith in your ability to be their mum and then you realise you haven't killed them accidentally yet, or they haven't stopped breathing and you meet someone who has been where you are and survived and then you realise you haven't bawled for a week! Well my baby has been home for over a year now but initially I completely fell apart. I don’t think I slept for 6 months after she was home and spent a great deal of time sitting in the corner of my backyard bawling my eyes out.
When we were in NICU (my DH and I lived on site for the 3 months she was there), I always had a nurse or dr or cleaner to chat to, I had people around me whjo were experiencing the same thing, the same emotions. When I came home with a sick baby on oxygen, with ng tubes and an apnoea alarm that would go off during the day and night, not to mention the 3 hourly feeds and the expressing, I was all alone. DH went back to work, my friends had no idea how to cope with the situation and I was completely isolated.
Everyone said it would be easier when she was home but my PND really hit then and I was a mess.
I really don’t want to go too far into it as it was a horrible, bleak time for me but I found an excellent counsellor who managed to really help me and now I am 100%.
It does get better I promise, they start to settle into a routine, they sleep better, they grow and put on weight, they know you and smile when they recognise you and you start to have faith in your ability to be their mum and then you realise you haven’t killed them accidentally yet, or they haven’t stopped breathing and you meet someone who has been where you are and survived and then you realise you haven’t bawled for a week!

]]> http://www.lilaussieprems.com.au/blogs/coping-post-nicu/comment-page-1/#comment-4 Bad Mummy » Coping with coming home Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:31:46 +0000 http://www.lilaussieprems.com/blogs/?p=38#comment-4 [...] I’m blogging over on L’il Aussie Prems about coping after coming home from hospital: I rode the lift to the fifth floor just as I had [...] [...] I’m blogging over on L’il Aussie Prems about coping after coming home from hospital: I rode the lift to the fifth floor just as I had [...]

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