My Second Day
Tuesday, 26 August 1997

I have to admit that once the drugs wore off I had trouble getting to sleep. This neonatal intensive care ward is one chaotic place!

First of all, I'm not alone. I share the ward with about 8 to 12 of my mates. So there are people coming and going all the time. (Matter of fact you can come and see me 24 hours a day.)

There are a mess of machines connected to me -- all with alarms that always seem to go off every time I feel like a stretch. First there's a cardiorespiratory monitor that measures my heart and breathing rate. Then there's the good ole transcutaneous monitor which measures the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in my blood. And then I've got a trusty oximeter strapped to my foot. That's another sensor that measures blood oxygen levels and my heart rate.

I'm still getting some tucker through my belly button. An intravenous pump connected via the remnants of my umbilical cord controls the amount of fluids into my body.

So that's my pad. Now there were some administrative duties to perform...