We love the nurses. We really do. They're all very well trained and highly qualified. Most of them have some level of emotional attachment to the babies in the NICU. They change diapers, talk to the babies, and try to comfort them as much they can.

But, we seem to meet at least one or two new nurses every week. In the 4+ weeks that Miller's been in the NICU, He's probably had 15 different nurses. Again, they're all very capable. But each baby has his own quirks. For example, most of the kids in the NICU don't mind a dirty diaper (or so the nurses tell us). Miller can't stand it. He'll squirm and whine and even "Desat"(desaturation, drop in oxygen) if he needs to be changed. He's also a big fan of good poop and works pretty hard to accomplish that, resulting in some lower oxygen levels. We know this about him. We also know that it usually takes him a few minutes to adjust to the cannula from the CPAP and that he really likes to rest on his belly. Unfortunately, because the nurses change so much, he's consistently subjected to new interpretations of his body language, etc. It's fairly frustrating. There are times when, while kangarooing for example, he'll act up and a new nurse will respond by telling us we should put him back in his isolette. In reality, he's probably just hot and we need to take one of the blankets off.

Yesterday was a tough day because Mom didn't get to Kangaroo in the afternoon. Miller's oxygen saturation was a little low (according to another new nurse) and his color wasn't where she wanted it to be. We probably could have pushed the issue, but we decided to give Miller a break in the hopes that he would continue to rest peacefully and be ready for a good session today.

All told, we really wish we could have some form of continuous care. We've identified primary nurses, but sometimes their schedules conflict or they're needed on a special assignment.

We'll see how it goes today.
Thanks for checking in on us and thanks for the prayers!

Love,
Danny & Stephanie