Life in the step down unit

Written on 1:29 PM by gracefully discovering:

It's been 7 days since we have been sleeping on the pull-out couch in Nia's room in what they call the "step-down" unit.
This is the unit where we learn how to care for her and get ready to take her home. It's been great to spend so much time with her- but we are definitely ready to spend that time AT HOME!

Nia has been doing great considering that she just had major open-heart surgery 2 weeks ago. The Cardiologist even said that she is starting to make the other babies look bad...and I'm thinking.."of course she is....she is a Richardson and that's what we do!!"
But seriously, she has been eating really well, having good poopy diapers and no fevers! However her blood pressure has been a bit high so they continue to increase her dosage of Captopril until they can get her blood pressure where they want it to be. Also her SAT levels have been slightly lower than where they want them to be...so they have to watch her a little longer to see whats going on.
She had an echo this morning and her heart seems to be doing well and functioning at a good level....so that is good news!
We were supposed to leave tomorrow- but now that's not looking good because they want to monitor her a little longer. I guess I'd rather her stay here until they aer completely comfortable with her-than for me to have to rush her back to the ER.

What it's like here:
1. Nurses, Doctors, PCA's and everyone in between coming in the room at least every hour to check on her and give her some type of medicine..or ask us some kind of question.
2. Checking Vital signs all through-out the night...and the lady knocking on the door saying "VITALS" which we think is hilarious
3. Eating fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner- and not eating the "breast feeding mom" plates they bring me from the cafeteria
4. Waking up every 3 hours to feed and change Nia
5. Pumping for Naomi so she can have milk when she is away from me
5. Hearing the beeping noise from the Polsox (sp?) machine....and turning the volume down so we can sleep!
6. Watching the residents sit back and not say a word when the Cardiologist do their rounds in the morning
7. Nick and I sleeping on the full...or maybe twin sized pull out sofa they have in her room
8. CPR training, car seat training. and the teaching of how to take care of our baby girl

I really just want to get home and get some type of normalcy back....and get our own little routine going. It's been hard to leave Naomi. She spends the whole day with us and then goes home with my MIL for the night. I just would like for all of us to be together and not have to split my time with the girls. That is definitely the hardest part. But hopefully all of that will come soon.

Gotta go change a poopy diaper...Nia is calling!
Check out some pics of the cutest set of twins you will ever see in your life...and yes I AM BIASED!