Just a Small Town Girl

I've realized lately that I am a small town girl at heart. I grew up in a relatively small community (approx 7,000 in the winter and 12,000 in the summer) on the ocean and after living in cities and traveling to many locations around the world I returned to said small town in 2004 to start my family. My town is sort of tucked away at the end of the highway and while it is a long but manageable commute to Boston, it still isn't really "close" to anything. The closest hospital is still about a 20 minute drive away but when you grow used to driving everywhere, that doesn't seem that far (and I know, in places like Texas that would very close but I live in New England where we are much more packed together).

So, with that in mind, when I went in to premature labor and had to be transferred to a hospital in Boston because they didn't have the room or staff to take care of my 33 weekers at the local hospital, I was very upset. I knew that it would be much harder for anyone to come visit and it would also be very difficult having babies in the NICU in Boston vs. a much closer and easier to get to hospital. I would also like to add that my local hospital is a very comfortable place for me as well. My father worked there for many years, I voluteered there, my mother currently works there and I delivered Lizzie there as well.

Giving birth and recovering at the city hospital was definitely a vastly different experience than I had with my first child and not just because I had a c-section and my babies were premature. While the nursing staff in both maternity and the NICU were excellent, it just didn't feel as personal to me as my local hospital. There were two maternity floors and the NICU is huge. At my local hospital I had a lot of attention from the lactation consultants but at the city hospital I barely saw them. I really didn't like it, it was lonely and foreign to me. I realized that I like a smaller hospital in a smaller town. I know that you can get some of the best medical care in Boston but I'll take second best if it means I'm more comfortable with my surroundings.

My babies finally got transferred back to my local hospital on Wednesday and I can't tell you how happy that has made me! Yesterday I was able to do three care sessions with them while I could only ever make it to one in the city. I'm even spending the night in a family room tonight so I can do their overnight cares as well. Then tomorrow night my parents are babysitting Lizzie while Greg and I go out to dinner then do a care session together. It has made such a huge difference to my frame of mine. Ultimately I want the babies home with me but for now this is the second best solution. They both had an apnea spell last night so they will definitely be here for at least 5 days more but they are eating all their feeds by bottle/breast and they are gaining weight and that is a very good thing.