Reading in the NICU

To put this post in context, I first have to specify that my husband and I spend an inordinate amount of time at the hospital. My husband and I basically split the days in two, I would go in the morning to see our sweetheart, come home for supper, then we would both go in the evening and he would spend the night shift with her. I know this is an unusual set up, we just had a few scary nights at first when we were not there and my husband has a work schedule that allowed him quite a bit of flexibility during that time. We realize how very lucky we were in that respect! Living a 5 minute walk to the hospital was also extremely convenient because parking daily would have probably not been possible.

I spent from one to 4 hours in kangaroo care with my little bub everyday. I found after a while, that while she was sleeping, she did much better (from her O2 sats and heart rate monitoring at least) if I was otherwise distracted. When I had no distractions, I ended up spending all my time playing with her hair, or rubbing her back or stroking her arms... all things that I eventually found made her a little unstable.

We were not allowed to use our cell phones while we were in Kangaroo care at our hospital. As such, I could not distract myself with browsing the internet... I found that an even better solution was to read riveting novels. Immersing myself into another world kept my hands busy turning pages and my mind off the scary possibilities my sweetheart might be facing, it was win-win for both of us!

During our 77 days, I had time to read 2 books, both which were quite successful at keeping my mind off the NICU :

1) The Kite Runner

A great book that really transported away, the Kite Runner is about two boys who grow up in Kabul. I have to warn you there are a few difficult passages that are quite graphic about abuse (sexual and otherwise). Overall, it was very interesting to experience what it is like to have your seemingly quaint small town become completely disfigured by war.

2) A Cuckoo's Calling

 

J. K. Rowling's foray into adult litterature under a pseudonym. This book was great because it was a light read and a real whodunnit (aka great at keeping your mind off the many NICU unnecessary stressors). She keeps you guessing right until the end.

Although just from personal experience, I believe reading kept me in a calmer mindset, therefore less likely to fidget which could only have been beneficial to my sweetheart!

Xo

C