Since I can “work from home” I’ve been working from my new home, the Special Care Unit. Blaze is doing fine, (he’s stable and constantly improving,) but he’s still in SCU. I’ve worked from there, (even though the last few days I’ve had to actually go into work, but I’ve spent the time from I get off work until about ten at night at the SCU.)
One good thing that has come of this, is I’ve gotten pretty good at changing diapers and swaddling Blaze. (I’ve also started holding him and changing his clothes.) All under the supervision of the SCU nurses. They would sit there and give me pointers, tips/tricks, etc. etc. Even if your kid doesn’t get sent to the NICU, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to change diapers, clothes, hold him, etc. Take advantage of their years and years of experience doing this stuff.
Today they moved him from the 2nd floor to the 7th floor. Pretty much a intermediate area between the NICU and HOME. (They said that he would probably not make it home for Christmas, that was kind of a downer, but hey, I would rather him be healthy and happy when he comes home.) The cool thing was when it came time for the nurse to change/swaddle/feed Blaze, she started to change him, and I asked if I could do it, (she of course said yes,) and I proceeded to change him. I was extremely proud when she said, “So, this isn’t your first kid I take it.”
One thing that I talked over with them is diapers. I’m thinking about writing up a small e-book on it because they gave me a lot of info that I’m just too tired to write now. However, one of the things that I do have time to pass on is this, you can calculate how many diapers you will need based on how long you think that they will stay in a particular size, (in days,) and times it by 8 + (1*days.) The reason that they said that was, you are going to start off feeding them every three hours or so, (ergo 8x per day,) and you can pretty much count on about one more for “unanticipated” use. (You get them out of the dirty one, into the clean one and they dump another “load” on you, or you accidentally tear off a tab, or you have to use one as a pee-shield… there will be unforeseen circumstances.)
Therefore, the equation is Td(total diapers) = (D1 x (8)) + (D1) Where D1 is days expected in a particular size of diapers.
Now, they also said that you _can_ figure it out to the nearest package of diapers and then start using the next size up early. You just need to make sure that you can close it up without any gaps.
Also, something I didn’t know is, always point it south on boys, because they _will_ shoot it out the top of the diaper.
And, on that note, I’m going to bed. Have a nice day!
-D
Update: I have my laptop in the room with me tonight, so I’m going to upload this little video, (I don’t think that there was any sound because I tried to keep my voice down. Basically, I show the crib, the monitors, the sitting area for Kim and myself, and the headliner act, Blaze!