General Care

We're still at the hospital, so that means the waiting continues. We're waiting to hear from Cayman's doctor of when we get to go home. It could be today, which would be great!! Cayman is in general care, which is not exactly as "luxurious" as the NICU or Moderate Care, which is where Cayman was the two other times she was in the hospital. Here's the difference:

• NICU-the nurse to patient ratio is 1:1 or 1:2. The nurse watches for any and every tiniest of needs a baby has. The nurse's station is right there in the same room as the patient so she can quickly notice if the baby needs anything.
  
• Moderate Care- the nurse to patient ratio is 1:2 or 1:3. The nurse again watches the babies very closely and can take care of their needs promptly. The nurse's station is a room that opens up to the patient's room
  
• General Care- I'm not sure what the nurse to patient ratio is, but it must be a lot because the nurse is hardly around. Cayman could need something and it would be a long wait for her until the nurse would even notice. The nurse's station is down the hall so she would only be able to tell if Cayman needs changed or feed if she made a special trip in to see. So Mike or I have stayed with Cayman around the clock.
  

If there is any advantages of being in the hospital with Cayman, the biggest one was always being able to go back to the McD House and gets some sleep and return whenever we wanted, while feeling at ease that Cayman was being cared for well. Mike and I don't mind the around the clock schedule with Cayman. It's just harder to do in the hospital than at home. For example:

• Cayman wet through her diaper and her hospital gown. We asked the nurse for another gown. Many minutes later she returns to say they are all out of the baby gowns. Daddy suggests she go to the floor below to Moderate Care where they have stacks of the baby gowns right in the patients' rooms. Finally after more than half an hour we get some clothes back on Cayman.
• When Cayman gets hungry we page the nurse and wait for her to bring the bottle because they store the breast milk in a refrigerator that is locked so no one can tamper with it. If the nurse is not busy with another patient the bottle comes quickly, but if she is Cayman has to wait. Then once the bottle comes it's cold and we heat it up in a cup of hot water.
• To get some sleep there is a built in couch next to Cayman's bed. It's narrow and short in length, so sleeping isn't the best.
  

At home, we know our routine, we don't have to wait on a nurse for anything, we have our bed, and we have Grandma Sue always eager and ready to take care of Cayman while we rest. The only thing is home doesn't have air conditioning.

But our vote is "let's go home today"!!!!!