I Want to Scream!!!!

He had another rough day.  :(  

Yet again, he had nurses that, in our three week and one day hospital stay, we have never seen before.  From what I am understanding, these nurses are the regular NICU nurses that are being made to work in the NICU step down as part of their scheduled overtime.  

   I just don't understand how he goes from having 3's, 4's, and 5's to having 10's, 13's, and other high scores.  Yes, I know that he is going through the weaning process, but he must really put on a show for us while we are there because we aren't seeing the reasons behind the high scores.  He, besides a few tremors we saw tonight, acts like a normal three week old baby.  He eats, sleeps, and poops just like a normal baby.  He wants to be held and loved.  When he wakes up and he is hungry, he does cry, but what three week old baby doesn't.  When he wants to be fed, his pacifier isn't going to make him happy all the time.  

Tonight, we had a nurse that rubbed me the wrong way.  She seemed (my own opinion, here) to think that we didn't know what we were doing.  I was pretty upset and wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but I didn't.  I wanted to tell her that after three weeks of sitting in the NICU for countless hours in those ever so comfortable hospital recliners, that I think I know how to hold my son. 

Here's the thing...as much as I hate him being there, I know that he is being well cared for.  He is fed and his diapers are changed when they are dirty.  He gets weighed and gets clean blankets when his are dirty.  He gets a bath every other night.  I am not doubting their ability to care for him.  

What I am doubting is the system for accessing the withdrawal symptoms for a full term baby and the ability for those who are not normally around those types of babies to score those babies correctly, as a nurse would who comes into contact with them on a regular basis.  

I've had some people ask about the scoring.  Here are some of the symptoms that he is scored on:

Symptoms of withdrawal in full-term babies may include:

• tremors (trembling)
• irritability (excessive crying)
• sleep problems
• high-pitched crying
• tight muscle tone
• hyperactive reflexes
• seizures
• yawning, stuffy nose, and sneezing
• poor feeding and suck
• vomiting
• diarrhea
• dehydration
• sweating
• fever or unstable temperature

Please pray that I will have patience, that I will be nice and considerate of those nurses that aren't our normal ones.  Pray that the doctors will see the high scores and look into the reasons behind them verses just accepting his high scores as fact.  Help the nurses that we really like, that have gotten to know the little man, to have him this week and be able to comfort us as we question the system.  

Here are some pictures of the little man from tonight.  He looks very flustered and hard to console, right???????  I'm just not seeing it.  :(

On a much happier note, we had our shower at church tonight and it was pretty fun.  We didn't have the normal shower, but one that was much more relaxed, kind of an open house style.  We got lots of new things for N and now I get to put them all away and find places for them.  I'll have to take a pictures of all of the stuff out of the bags.  Thank you, church family.  :)

I'll post more shower pictures another day.  Right now, I have to go to bed.  Back to work in the morning.