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Organizing info from doctors?

4K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  MeepyCat 
#1 ·
How did you keep track of all the information on your baby that the doctors and nurses gave you? Any tips/tricks would be super-appreciated!!
 
#2 ·
Hmmm... I didn't really document anything. Numbers (like weight and goal ml of breastmilk intake for the day) were in a little binder thing next to her bed that we were encouraged to look at. It wasn't really used for nurse charting- they did all that on the computer. I did get a copy of the medical records fromher birth, and they sent us home with a "discharge summery" printed up for us that actually was pretty detailed. I work in healthcare, so the concepts were all familiar so it was easy to follow. We were there for rounds each morning, so we heard the story repeaated day after day with daily updates. I asked questions. My husband is not in healthcare and he felt like he understood what they were talking about in rounds.

What kind of info are you looking to document? I think you could get a lot of it printed out for you by some eager med student, or ask a nurse nicely.

There were probably a few handouts they gave us too- I guess I recall one about how to best soothe/ have physical contact with your baby based on their developmental/ gestational age. I think I just left those in the bedside binder, because, again, it was encouraged for us to use it.

IMO, more important than numbers is being able to tell a "story", to yourself and your family, about what is going on with your baby. So ask questions until the "story" makes sense to you and you can remember the important details.
 
#3 ·
Honestly, I didn't keep track of a lot of it either. Occasionally, I'll clean out a drawer or go through old files and find NICU handouts (the baby is now five). Obviously, I thought I was putting them all someplace safe for easy reference, it's just that I then forgot they existed. This is kind of what the NICU experience does to parents.

I'd go in every day, they'd give me an update, and I would remember the things that were key to me - baby weighs X, ate Y, is expected to be able to come home in Z days. I would remember the things I worried about and the things I thought were good signs and report them to family. Sometimes, things changed incredibly fast. For about 12 hours, they were worried that DD had a heart murmur. They gave us a ton of info on neonatal cardiac irregularities, the treatment options, and the long-term effects. DD's heart murmur resolved without anyone doing anything, leaving us with a stack of irrelevant handouts to fan ourselves with while we sat in a sunny office talking about whether we should be worried about her jaundice. Had we needed medical help or ongoing intervention, DH and I agreed that we were going to fling ourselves and our binder on the mercy of the pediatrician and make her explain it to us.

Having a baby in the NICU is exhausting and scary. These aren't circumstances under which anyone expects you to be brilliantly organized. Do what you need to do to get through each day, one day at a time.
 
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