New Roommates

Tonight I have two new roommates. Not since freshman year of college have I shared such a small space with someone that I know so little about. They really are not the best roommates. They make lots of noise at all hours of the night. The do very little for themselves. Sometimes they even smell bad. I have two new roommates and life will never be the same.

Tonight we are “rooming-in” at the NICU in Women’s Hospital. This allows NICU parents the opportunity to spend a night or two with their babies knowing that the helpful hands of the nurses are only a phone call away. For most parents, this happens on the day their baby is born. We had to wait 17 nights. Seventeen nights to have the opportunity to hold our baby girls without someone watching over our shoulders. Seventeen nights to rock our daughters to sleep without becoming entangled in the monitor wires that track their vital signs 24-hours a day. Seventeen nights to kiss our baby girls without having to avoid a feeding tube. We waited seventeen nights and life will never be the same.

Tomorrow the girls will have a car seat test. They will be monitored in their car seats for one hour to ensure that they can safely ride in a vehicle without a drop in heart rate or oxygen sat. Assuming they pass this test, we will go home with two more people than we left with tonight. I have no idea what happens next. I am not sure that I can figure out how much to feed them or when to change a diaper without having a NICU nurse give me direction. I don’t know what happens when my level of exhaustion exceeds anything that I have experienced since I was 21. All I know is that I am lying in Women’s Hospital with my 3 favorite girls and life will never be the same. I am so blessed!