Ben's First Sun Tan

On Monday (December 10) we took Ben to the doctors to check his weight and make sure he was gaining enough.  The doctor suggested that we take him to the lab to get his bilirubin levels checked.  A couple of hours later, the doctor called back with the results and said that his bilirubin levels were 20.4! (it should have been in the single digits).  He told us to take him back to the hospital and that the NICU doctors knew that we would be arriving soon.  After throwing some things in a bag we headed back to Danbury Hospital.

It was so sad seeing him all hooked up to the machines and with his little sunglasses on!  He would get really sad whenever he was done eating and we put him back in the incubator and put the sunglasses on.  Thankfully I could open the little portals and rub his sweet head and talk to him until he calmed down.  I stayed with Ben for his entire stay in the NICU and got to know the routine quickly.  After the first night the nurses let me take him in and out of the incubator myself so I didn't have to ring for them each time he wanted to eat/get his diaper changed.  Our friend from church, Robbie Parker, was also Ben's Physician's Assistant, so it was nice personally knowing one of the members on the medical staff, and he came and kept me company after Sean had to leave.  He really made me feel better about the situation and it was nice having someone to talk to, aside from quick conversations with the nurses as they made their rounds.

My parents came up on Tuesday and so they watched Owen for Sean and I so Sean could go back to work on Wednesday.  We were also able to bring Ben home on Wednesday afternoon!!



The NICU at Danbury has recently been renovated and is absolutely amazing.  Each baby has a private room and there is a separate room for the parent to stay that is attached.  I'm so grateful that I was able to spend each minute with Ben while he was in the NICU - I couldn't imagine having to leave him there all by himself!

I love this quote that is at the NICU entrance:

"When God wants an important thing done in this world or a wrong righted, He goes about it in a very singular way. He doesn't release thunderbolts or stir up earthquakes. God simply has a tiny baby born, perhaps of a very humble home, perhaps of a very humble mother. And God puts the idea or purpose into the mother's heart. And she puts it in the baby's mind, and then-God waits. The great events of this world are not battles and elections and earthquakes and thunderbolts. The great events are babies, for each child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged with humanity but is still expecting good-will to become incarnate in each human life." -Marian Wright Engleton

Our private room in the NICU.