The Get-Along-Gang

One of the things that happens when you are in the hospital at your baby's bedside is that you get tunnel vision at first.  All you see or care about is what is happening right there with your child.  After a while though, when the dust starts to settle, you start to look around and see who is in there with you. 

I started talking to another couple first that had the baby right next to Dane.  Dane's next door neighbor was full-term but had inhaled meconium during birth and needed some support for the first couple of weeks.  Then I started talking to the couple one down from our next door neighbors and across the aisle.  They had twins born at 27 weeks and were at two different NICUs.  Finally, I met the couple across the aisle from Dane, who had a baby that had needed support since his birth eight months ago. 

Dane's next door neighbor's father gave our little group a name, The Get-Along-Gang, because every time he came in he checked on his baby first, then would look over to see if Dane was doing alright, and then across the aisle at the other baby, and finally down the aisle at the twin.  We found out that we all did that when we got in, I would check on Dane and then look at the other babies' vital signs to see how they were.  That is when I learned the magic of intra-NICU parental support.  Andrew had discovered this before me because he was usually in the waiting room with Claire while I was in there with Dane, and got to talk to many of the other parents.  I had tunnel vision much longer, but when you can come in and say hi to the other parents and get and give status updates, it makes it much better because it takes away the isolated loneliness feeling.  These are the things that you never forget, the camaraderie that developed as a result of our little crew.

The Get-Along-Gang is getting smaller by the minute, thank God.  Dane's next door neighbor went home shortly after he arrived, and the baby across the aisle is now being treated in another state.  Soon, the twin will join her sister at home (she arrived last week!), and hopefully within a few weeks Dane will be home as well.
Long live the Get-Along-Gang.