Our Baby Kennedy: I <3 Primaries

I love our primaries! I have been wanting to blog about my primaries for a while now but life has been so busy I just haven't had a chance yet so here I go! For those who don't know a Primary Nurse is a nurse who signs up for your baby so that whenever they work they get your kid. At least that was how the program was described to us when we were admitted to the hospital and waiting for Kennedy to be born. It was almost an after thought that that followed the lengthy and scary description of what life in the NICU would be like for Kennedy. What they didn't say, but any NICU mom will be sure to tell you is that Primaries are angels. Guardian angels if you will. Sure they get your kid every time they work and the premise of the primary nurse program is so that the child and parents will have some continuity during their NICU stay. They are supposed to get to know your kid and provide a familiar face for you, but they do SOOOOOO much more than that. They care for your child 36 hours a week. They know what she likes and dislikes. They hold her and comfort her when you're not around. They know her favorite sleeping position, and how she reacts to certain meds. They know your child- how to comfort, how to heal, and how to make her happy. They go through the ups and the downs with you. When your stuck in this strange scary NICU world they are one of the few people who can relate to what your going through. They are a shoulder to cry on, and a cheerleader, and a friend. They grow to love your child and are more like an Aunt with extensive medical knowledge to your child than a nurse. Without them I would have been lost.

So here is a tribute to our Primary Nurses:

Meet our daytime Primary, Gail:

She has been there from the very beginning. She was the first nurse to sign up to primary Kennedy. We liked her right away and asked if she would, but she had already decided to sign her self up. See that adorable purple dress and socks Kennedy is wearing? Those are a gift from her. Gail loves her horse Amadeus (short for Rock Me Amadeus, his show name), her new motorcycle, and sudoku. Gail has been Kennedy's biggest advocate. Without her on Kennedy's side I don't think we would be as far as we have come today.

Meet our night Primary, Jasmine:

Jasmine signed up for Kennedy about 1 or 2 weeks after she was born. We liked her right away too and asked her the first night we met her if she would be Kennedy's primary. She LOVES LOVES LOVES the Dodgers and Jasmine can make a 12 hour shift go by in a flash! She always has the best stories to tell and is an AMAZING artist. Shawn has said her handwriting is so neat it could be a font. She made two of the signs on Kennedy's crib:

This one she cut everything out by hand- even the tiny banana! Kennedy did help with the foot prints, lol.