Of note about the NICU, before you can go to the baby's bedside, you have to scrub in, which consists of handwashing from fingertip to elbow for 3 minutes (or more specifically, 3 minutes and 6 seconds, which is what the timer at the handwashing station is set to). The water is controlled by two foot pedals, a hot and a cold. The soap is also controlled by a foot pedal. The hot water is VERY hot. Bart made a comment about it while washing up....he said "Wow, this will take you straight from the NICU to the burn unit!" Not sure that it is funny when retold, but it made me laugh at the time.
Anyways, I fed both babies and Bart and Forrest held them. While there we were told that Carter was ready to be released and we'd be doing our "Room In" that night. This was the best news I've heard in so long! I got so excited that I even shed some tears.
Rooming in occurs in the Labor and Delivery area. We get to have him all night long and we do everything - feed, change diapers, soothe, etc. The NICU nurses are there to check in on us and make sure it all goes well. Most importantly, Carter wasn't hooked up to any machines! No IV or anything!
Our night went great. The NICU nurse taught us how to give him a sponge bath and then we had to feed him every three hours. It was an exhausting night, as we both had to wake up each time we fed, but we learned a lot and Carter was so good the whole night.
We checked out at about 1:30pm on Sunday (it took WAY too long for the nurses to get their acts together, in my opinion) and went home.
Here are some pics of our night with Carter:
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