Amber and I moved out of the hotel and into a hospital room yesterday so we can be closer to Emily and do some more feedings. The feedings are generally every two hours but it varies. Sometimes she is crying because she is hungry and sometimes the time to feed her comes around and she is sleeping and not interested in taking a bottle. The feeding itself can take anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour, including burping. Actually we think she is doing pretty good overall.
(But what do we know? We are so new to this!!)
We're very grateful for the nursing staff in the NICU. They are helping us getting used to the feeding routine and help us learn how to hold Emily, how to burp her and so forth. They do a great job even though we cannot understand each other because of the language barrier. Its also helpful to talk to two other couples who also have babies in the NICU. The other two couples each have twins... so I'm thankful that Amber and I at least have Emily outnumbered!!
The other day Amber and I took an auto rickshaw to the City Center Mall and we went to the grocery store. Fortunately with Emily in the NICU we didn't need babysitting; but we only had an hour b/c we wanted to get back for the next feeding and we definitely figure we'll have to divide and conquer to get errands done from here on out. (No leaving the kid in the car while you run into Target, right Tom & Amanda?)
The biggest errand is the consulate visit scheduled for Tuesday. We'll probably hire a nurse and ambulance to take Emily there from the hospital. We need to get two passport photos of Brian & Emily ASAP. Plus we need to get Emily on our health care plan and see if it will cover any of the children's hospital bills. So far we have paid one lakh of rupees (about $2,400). A Lakh is 1,00,000 rupees. And yes those commas are apparently in the right place. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakh. By US standards, that's not a big bill to care for a premie for 10 days. But we're broke, essentially; starting to run a balance on the credit cards for this and looking at some leave without pay when we get home. So hopefully our health insurance will cover it.
Apparently all the water and soda we bought froze completely in the fridge here in the hospital room... can't figure out how to set the fridge not to freeze everything. No running hot water in the room, no towels, pillows are lumps of plastic; but this is luxury by local standards. Reminds me of my dorm room in Skarland Hall at UAF.
BTW, if you live in Fairbanks or Anchorage and are interested in giving to the "Bring Emily Home Soon" fund and would simultaneously like to get some Christmas shopping done, head on over to the craft bazaar this weekend. Grandma Marie Hopkins, and Brian's old boss, Pat Ivey (Auntie Pat), are in Fairbanks at the Holiday Marketplace at the Carlson Center staffing the Alaskan Snowflakes booth. Emily's aunt and local TV news celebrity Rebecca Palsha is heading up the booth in Anchorage at the Alaskan Christmas Bazaar at Anchorage City Church. Brian suspects - no, fervently hopes - that after this weekend the inventory of the family's small business will be very low for some time to come. So this may be your last chance to pick up an Amber original creation!
She is absolutely darling-icious!!!! Good luck as you start the process of exiting. Take each step with a healthy dose of persistence and you'll be home in no time! By the way, I was very surprised but our insurance did qualify our babies expenses - what seemingly helped was that her stay was deemed an emergency. How do I buy an Amber creation? HUGS!!!
ReplyDeleteBrian posted the craft fair stuff without warning me. I basically HAD a second job where I made stained glass and fused glass ornaments and jewelry which I sold at the local Christmas bazaars. Believe me, it was more of a way for me to focus on something positive while waiting for Emily. :)
ReplyDeleteAaaawwww. So cute! It looks like she's smiling in the last image :)
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you three!
K
Emily has a little boyfriend waiting for her in Texas!!!! (Although I believe he is a week younger than your precious Emily.) We love you guys and are SO happy for you! Hurry home!
ReplyDeleteWow! She is lovely, and looking older already. I am praying for you and the mountains of paperwork that need to be done. I am looking forward to meeting Emily and hope you can come home soon! Enjoy your sweet baby and try not to worry.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Stephanie
Amber, your health insurance should reimburse e you for Emily's hospital care -- probably at your out-of-network rate. But you'll probably need to submit the paperwork once you're home and get reimbursed. Usually you have 30 days to add a newborn to your family insurance policy. Congratulations, she is gorgous!
ReplyDelete