One of the risky things about quads is that they always deliver prematurely, somewhere around 30 weeks plus or minus a few. That means a NICU stay is inevitable. Of course the NICU can be a scary place. The positive side of having quads that will go to the NICU is knowing they will go there. Many parents whose babies are in the NICU did not expect it, but we have some time to prepare for what lies ahead. We have also learned that parents can choose what NICU their babies are admitted to. We are fortunate that Cook Children’s Hospital is nearby and just opened a new level III NICU wing this past September. We toured it this Saturday to learn more about it. The NICU nurse warned us that we would have to act like “pit bulls” to insist that they go to Cook Children’s rather than our delivery hospital (as they have their own NICU), but we will do what we need to do to make that happen. George was blunt about it and basically got the nurse to tell us it was about hospital revenue. I don’t care about the hospital’s bottom line, this is our babies!
Cook Children’s is unique in their approach, which I appreciate. They highly regard parent involvement and want us to be there providing care to the babies as much as we can. In fact, the babies will be together in the quad suite and there are parent beds so we can stay too. In other NICUs they could be in separate nurseries and would be with other infants. If my babies are in a NICU, I want to be with them as much as I can and they will really make this possible. We also felt better seeing how despite all the medical equipment housed there, it was not terribly clinical. Everything is warm and personalized so we will feel comfortable. George thought a tour wasn’t necessary since we’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted with the NICU, but he was really impressed with the facility. We were so happy we took this tour, because the NICU is one less thing to worry over. We know they will get the best care, which will mean the best possible outcome, and that makes me rest better!
hugs!
Amber
https://www.cookchildrens.org/SpecialtyServices/NICU/Pages/default.aspx#3
Four to Adore 
That sounds great 🙂 I was worried about the NCIU setting too – separation, being fed formula and all that. I had a tour of my hospitals NCIU and feel much better because it sounds very much like Cook’s. I’m glad hospitals are starting to realise that Mum and Dad are just as important in those early stages of life 🙂
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I’m so glad your NICU is similar. Parent involvement is so important for strong babies. Ours will take my breast milk and supplement it with needed vitamins and donated milk so all four get enough, which I think is great!
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excellent!
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Isn’t Harris a Level IV? What particular interventions aren’t available at a Level III, do you know? I ask my mom all the time, but she “can’t remember” and then we forget to look it up…
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Harris is level III too, and they send any babies that need surgery to Cook Children’s anyways. Where is your mom?
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Mmmm..Tabor told me it was IV. Wonder if they went down in the past year? I know that Arlington Memorial did.
My mom is in Dallas at Methodist.
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Hmm, maybe it did. I checked their level before we looked at Cook Childrens and they were the same.
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[…] meant they would have a NICU stay, and we wanted to be educated with our options. When we toured Cook Children’s we were thoroughly impressed and knew it was the place to care for our babies. After the babies […]
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