This is not a review on a specific item, but a much needed discharge checklist the NICU staff (who are the greatest people in the world by the way) neglected to create and distribute. They just unplug the monitors and say "ok, he's yours now... pack up!"
Most people are just concerned with their "take home outfit". This is a term I had never heard and something you really don't need unless you have a camera crew awaiting your arrival at home.
Here is what you DO need:
1. A cooler for your extra milk. We didn't bring one because we were told we only had 4 bottles of milk in the freezer. When we showed up on discharge day, they had somehow found 50 more! Bring a cooler even if you don't think you'll need it.
2. Receiving blankets. The NICU nurses will show you how to situate your little one in their car seat using receiving blankets. What they don't tell you is to bring your own on discharge day because they don't want to lose theirs.
3. Make sure your car seat base is installed and checked at the fire department. Much to my husband's disappointment, the hospital does not have someone certified to do this.
4. Hand sanitizer. Just because your stay at the NICU has turned you into the germaphobe you never knew you could be and you might touch something on your way out.
5. The name of your pediatrician. Hopefully you have one before this point, and you've probably already told the nurses who it is, but maybe they didn't write it down.
6. Be speedy. I don't know how many times the nurse asked where my husband was (we both drove to the hospital separately after we got off work) and when I got my itemized bill it appeared to have a fee of about $400 for taking more than 30 minutes to discharge.
No comments:
Post a Comment