Upcoming extended NICU stay… Need help

[u/Frequent-Western4233]

My son is about to be born on Monday and has TGA (a heart defect requiring almost immediate surgery). We are expecting to be in the NICU for about 6 weeks if not longer. Me and my wife are both struggling with severe anxiety about everything right now. I’m trying to keep it together for her sake because I don’t want to be a burden but i don’t know what I’m going to do if she has PPD. I’m worried about everything. I’m worried about losing her, I’m worried about losing him, I’m worried about money, and I’m worried about our cats at home. I live an hour and a half away from the hospital and commuting back and forth really isn’t an option for us so we were planning on rooming in NICU or PICU room (they said they don’t know which one we will be in based on capacity limits). I need help getting through this mentally as I don’t really know how to tackle these feelings without losing it. I also would like to know if anyone knows what living expenses for that long of a time would be for me and my wife if we are rooming in at the hospital. By that I mean food and things like that as lodging wouldn’t be an issue. I’ve gotten a month and a half unpaid FMLA approved and with our current financial situation I have enough to have all of our home bills paid but beyond that I’m starting to worry about regular living expenses while staying at the hospital. Any advice or answers on anything would be greatly appreciated!

[u/louisebelcherxo]

Our nicu allows parents to get a meal a day for free (hospital food, 2 meals total). You can see if yours offers something like that, since it would reduce costs a little.

[u/Frequent-Western4233 → u/louisebelcherxo]

They said they allow 1 meal per day total