Finally Home

This morning (Monday) when I went downstairs to the NICU to visit Andrew, he had a cannule in his nose to give him a little oxygen. He doesn’t require much, but since removing him from the CPAP, he sometimes needs a little extra oxygen because moving him from his isolette and now the most important part, feeding, has been a lot for his little lungs. He started feedings at just 5 cc. per feeding. It’s about a teaspoon, so not too much. He is a very slow eater, and at just 32 weeks, he is just learning how to suck, swallow and breathe. Sometimes he needs a gavage in his mouth and the milk just goes right to his stomach. He eats every three hours and I was able to be there for the feedings this morning and afternoon, before I made the journey home. I attempted a few bottle feedings, but he’s not only slow, but snuggled so much in a warm blanket, that he sleeps most of the time. The nurse helped me take his temperature and change his tiny diaper. They want us to do this as often as we can. It’s really tricky to change such a tiny diaper with a lot of monitor wires going every which way. So I finally checked out of Beaumont around 3:00, after staying for four weeks. Most of the time was spent in Antepartum, three nights in Labor and Delivery and three nights in Postpartum. There are so many wonderful doctors, residents and nurses and I got to know them really well during my stay. Everyone has been great and I had a lot of visits from them after Andrew was born, just to check on how we were all doing. I must say that I was eager to get home, but now I am not able to take the elevator one floor down to see Andrew. I attempted to get settled at home and then insisted on getting back to the hospital to see our little guy. It takes a lot of energy to do everything and hopefully I will be moving a little faster by next week. Brian had the lesson in temperature readings and diaper changes and then his night time feeding. He’s still adjusting to the bottle and we’re not quite sure how much actually goes in his mouth. Brian held him for a long time after his feeding and he said that Andrew had a lot of gas…which sounds funny, but we are praying for a bowel movement to keep everything going in the right direction. He had his first one right away, which is the most important, but we don’t want to slow down in that department. He has started to look a little yellow and they have been monitoring his Bilirubin levels to make sure he doesn’t have “jaundice.” The levels are moving up a little bit and the nurses have told us that it is not unusual for babies in the NICU to have to spend a little time “sun bathing.” Hopefully the evening will go well. Brian will continue his daily hospital visits; he will just have to pick me up on the way from now on.