Thanks by the Letters: C

Charlotte:

We know she's Max's favorite nurse, even though she gave him his first immunizations. I think it was actually harder on her than it was on him. I'm getting ahead of myself...

Charlotte was one of Max's first nurses. He was just a week old when we came in on Friday morning to find Charlotte with our boy. We were new to all this and Charlotte was full of answers to all our questions. She helped us to understand what was happening, made sure we were talking to doctors as much as we wanted, and encouraged us to touch and care for him as much as possible.

We knew we loved her then and when I begged and pleaded for primary care nursing for Max, Charlotte was at the top of my list. Number one, because of her experience and ease in caring for Max. She was comfortable with what was happening and that helped. It helped Max to have consistency and calm, and it helped us. He was at ease because she was slow and gentle and patient with him and his very sensitive needs. She was slow and calm and took the time to explain things to Mommy and Daddy and this helped us to be more comfortable as well.

The times when I couldn't be with Max, I knew if Charlotte was there, he was in good hands. She loved Max, she picked wonderful little warm hats for him. She snuggled and kissed and loved on him until I could get there. She brought him an extra warmer "his spa and ostomy changing station" for all those weeks when we were stripping him and changing that ostomy bag over and over and over again, sometimes 15 times a day!

Charlotte cared about making Max comfortable and that was one of the few things we could try to control. She was a key player on "Team Max" and honestly, I don't know how we would have made it through those 123 days without her.

Charlotte got me. She understood that I spent 15 years asking questions for a living. That I'm a researcher and I need to know what's happening and why. Troy and I both wanted to know as much as possible about Max and his body and what was happening to him. We needed details and to feel like we were a part of his care and nurturing. We were his advocates, and Charlotte helped explain things so we could make what we felt were the best decisions for his care.

She listened to us scream and me cry, and she went with Max for that critical exploratory bowel surgery when we learned that he did indeed have NEC. Charlotte called from the surgery to let us know things were going well. When they wheeled him away, Charlotte went with him, and that made it just a little easier. She was with him for the day after surgery when things went downhill. Giving him countless injections and medications and trying to keep his traumatized, bloated, shocked body from losing the battle.

And she was with us for the good times, when he would snuggle and breathe and take his first bottle, and have his first poop after surgery....

She was with us through so much, and I don't think you can share all those moments and not bond. I bonded with Charlotte, we all did. She is one of the few things I actually MISS from those NICU days. We all miss you Charlotte. You helped save Max's life and you definitely saved mine!

Colonial (Presbyterian):

This is Ella's preschool and eventually Alex and Max will go there as well... This school and congregation really rallied around us. They prayed for us, cared for our children, came to the hospital weekly sometimes daily to be with us and pray at Max's side. They fed us! For weeks moms organized meals and brought them to us. It meant that my kids were eating something other than McDonald's every night, it gave us some normalcy in a very abnormal time. I knew Ella was in the right place at Colonial. I had no idea what a support system they would become for our entire family. We are so blessed by this wonderful congregation and staff!

CPAP:

That' s the elephant snorkel which Ella just loved to see on Max's face. He hated it, but it got him off the ventilator, and he quickly moved past needing the CPAP as well. It was noisy and uncomfortable, but a step in the right direction, as he began to breathe for himself.






Cafeteria:

Who would have thought anyone would be thankful for hospital food??? But I was. It was decent and I didn't want to leave the hospital. I wanted to spend my days with Max and that cafeteria gave me decent food to eat, quickly, so I could be with him as much as possible. I had SOOOO many turkey burgers and yogurt pretzels..... I may never eat them again.

More C's and one overlooked B:

I don't want to overlook Carrie, our wonderful weekend nurse on Max's primary list. Carrie must have thought we were never around, because weekends were when we tried to spend a little more time with Ella and Alex. She helped Ella to hold her brother for the first time, and she loved on our Max too. I love that some of the nurses seemed to love my boy!

Cherie was one of Max's night nurses, or as I like to call them his girlfriends. Cherie and Betsy, (who should have been in my "B" post, I've already screwed up!) really made me comfortable leaving Max overnight. I would pick the kids up, come home, have dinner and bedtime routine as usual, I'd do laundry, clean, catch up on phone calls, bills, etc... and then Troy and I would check in after midnight and actually sleep! Betsy would read to Max when he woke up in the middle of the night for heaven's sake! I think they may have spoiled him for me! And I loved it!