We received our first offer to move to the eleventh floor on Monday.
We declined.
Kinley had only been in Level 2 for nine hours and off of CPAP for a day and a half. Nancy had just gotten out of the hospital — for the second time — that morning. We still have errands to run out of the hospital, including picking our pediatrician and buying all our baby gear.
Everyone on the staff — receptionists, counselors, nurses — that knew we had turned down the eleventh floor looked at us like we were crazy.
Our understanding of the eleventh floor was still a bit lacking.
We knew the eleventh floor was only for the most stable of the Level 2 babies. We’ve seen it as the gateway to going home, with many of the graduating NICU parents wearing eleventh floor stickers. It was also further away from the doctors and Level 3 support, should it be needed. We didn’t feel ready.
Over the past couple days we asked more questions and had our counselor take us on a quick tour. It was better than expected.
We learned that they extend the eleventh floor offer to parents that are heavily involved in their infant’s care, yet all of the same support exists. The rooms are specially designed to both offer privacy for us and quick access for the nurses. There is a chair that folds out into a single bed, a recliner, private bathroom and shower so we can stay over more comfortably.
Today we missed our usual afternoon hands on so that we could take a baby care class. Afterwords we swung by to check on Kinley. While at her bedside, the charge nurse walked over to us. She said another family was moving out of the eleventh floor and extended a second invitation.
This time, weย took it.
