Well, we are having the usual hiccups and snafus prior to coming home. This is further complicated by the fact that this is a long holiday weekend and the end of the month (which means that we are changing attendings). Allan is coming home with 1) oxygen 2) an NG tube and 3) an apnea monitor. And he'll be getting nine (9!) medicines. You have to love it when the docs ask you how you feel about that -- What.Ever. If I tell you that this is really sh*tty and, to paraphrase Bartleby, we would prefer not, does that mean that we can go home without this stuff? Because, if that's an option, sign us up. Otherwise, don't ask. If this is what we have to do, this is what we will do. Thank goodness that Cheryl went to bat for us on the formula. Because he was small and they wanted him to gain weight, they sent Griffith home on 24 calorie formula. This means we came home with regular formula but we mix it differently from the directions so that we have a higher caloric content. Straight breast milk is 20 calories per ounce so every ounce of the formula that we give Griffith has 4 extra calories. Well, because Allan was "too fat," he was on 22 calorie formula. So we would have had to have mix up different formula for each baby. The last attending essentially brushed off my inquiry about sending Allan home on the same formula as Griffith. The point apparently being that is was a minor inconvenience (the definition of "minor inconvenience" being one that plagues us rather than the doctor, apparently). Honestly, even minor inconveniences when you have a half dozen (or more) of them can become problematic. Anyhoodle, the new attending was more sympathetic and so we are going home on 24 cal but with less volume. Which seems to make sense since the kid won't actually EAT any of it. Allan is still piddling around with his bottle feeds so they are getting an occupational therapist to come in and evaluate him for an oral aversion. I can't remember if I've explained this before. If I have, you can skip the next part. Because of the vent tubes and other stuff that they shove down preemies' throats, some of them begin to associate things in their mouths with bad things. So they don't want to suck on a bottle. Because he will sometimes do great with his feeds, they haven't thought that he had an oral aversion, but we are kind of down to what harm will it do to have him evaluated? Maybe they'll see something that someone has missed and we will be able to jumpstart his bottle-feeding.
Griffith is doing great. He got a little stomach bug last night (which he gave to Momma) so we went to the pediatrician this morning. He is just fine and seems to be on the mend. Aided in part by Miss Flora who has spent all day (again) spoiling her precious little angel. Honestly, the kid won't have any sense at all if he listens to all her sweet-talking. We weighed this morning and Griff is a solid 6 and a half pounds. He won't catch Allan (8 pounds 12 ounces) any time soon, but he is definitely holding his own.
We are looking forward to a good weekend and tying up loose ends before Tuesday. Dad and Griff are going to watch the UK game on Sunday. Might as well introduce him to the concept of "hope springs eternal" and "just wait until basketball season" early.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Thursday - August 31st
Griffith and I are hanging out at home tonight. Kim came over and baby sat so that I could meet Jay at the hospital before shift change and then we got take out Thai. (Griff had formula for dinner instead.) He charmed Kim completely. When I got home, she was holding him and I suspect that she had been doing just that since Miss Flora left. Right now, he's swinging and we are both catching up on reruns of Grey's Anatomy. Actually, he's just fallen asleep. All this being loved on wears a boy out.
Allan had a good day. He had another eye exam and still has one spot in one eye that they want to look at so we haven't gotten discharged from opthamology like we had hoped. As with every thing else, Allan is taking his own sweet time. Still we are supposed to be going home on Tuesday although there is a bit of confusion about monitors and such that we have to get sorted out. Still, we are all preparing for a homecoming. Last night Allan said goodbye to Catilin and tonight he said goodbye to Alissa. The weekend will be bittersweet, too, because he has to say farewells to Krista, Ellie, Sarah and Jennifer. Even though he knows that it is time to go home and that he will see all of them again, it still makes him a little sad. Anyway, all we have to do now is make it through the weekend without him catching on that they are going to send him home and then we are outta there.
Allan had a good day. He had another eye exam and still has one spot in one eye that they want to look at so we haven't gotten discharged from opthamology like we had hoped. As with every thing else, Allan is taking his own sweet time. Still we are supposed to be going home on Tuesday although there is a bit of confusion about monitors and such that we have to get sorted out. Still, we are all preparing for a homecoming. Last night Allan said goodbye to Catilin and tonight he said goodbye to Alissa. The weekend will be bittersweet, too, because he has to say farewells to Krista, Ellie, Sarah and Jennifer. Even though he knows that it is time to go home and that he will see all of them again, it still makes him a little sad. Anyway, all we have to do now is make it through the weekend without him catching on that they are going to send him home and then we are outta there.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
wednesday - august 30
Well, we are still on target for a Tuesday homecoming. Allan still hasn't shown all that much interest in eating from the bottle. He didn't really do any thing at the 10 a.m., took about 40 at 2 and did the same at 6. Caitlin was showing me how to work the feeding pump tonight and, of course, there was some malfunction with the machine and it kept stopping. I told her that this was not at all comforting to me considering how close we were to going home and we were laughing about how awful it would be to get home and not be able to get the darned thing working. Allan bobbled his head around and got the most alarmed look on his face. He may not want to eat from a bottle but he wants to make darned sure that the current delivery system stays functional. He's such a little faker with the bottle though. He'll suck some down and then cough and hack like he has emphysema. I had thought that he was having genuine trouble coordinating the suck-swallow-breath thing until tonight. Right before I left, he started smacking his lips like he wanted to suck, so I gave him his pacifier. He sucked a couple of times and then either spit it out or just lost his grip on it. Since I couldn't tell which, I gave it back to him. Apparently he didn't want it because he turned red, spit it out and hacked and coughed and gagged like he had sucked a gallon of water. I guess that's just his way of saying "no more."
Griffith had another excellent day. Miss Flora likes nothing better than to hold a baby and sweet talk and Griffith likes nothing better than to be doted on. So that's working out well for him - at the moment any way.
Griffith had another excellent day. Miss Flora likes nothing better than to hold a baby and sweet talk and Griffith likes nothing better than to be doted on. So that's working out well for him - at the moment any way.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
He is coming, R U ready
Well, it looks like we may be nearing the end of this part of this little adventure. Word is that Allan is being transferred (we aren't using the h-o-m-e word because of how Griffith reacted to it). We are shooting for Tuesday. He's going to be coming home with some accessories -- oxygen, monitor, feeding tube, kitchen sink. The only thing holding him back has really been this whole inconsistent eating-from-a-bottle thing. Since he's still pretty random and up-and-down on it, we are going with Plan B (or Double Y or Triple P or whatever -- we've had a lot of plans.) Any way, the current plan is that we try to bottle feed during the day and let him take what he does or does not want. Then, at night, we hook him up to the NG tube and feed him whatever the balance of that day's nutrition would have been. It isn't any wonder that the poor little fellow is having problems -- after all the talk of how fat he was, it shouldn't be a wonder that he has an eating disorder. Anyway, he is doing very well, other than being uncooperative. As an example of what a little twerp he is, Allan wouldn't take from his bottle yesterday, but last night was whiny and wriggly until he got a pacifier which he sucked on like a demon. A pretty, uncooperative demon.
Griffith and Miss Flora have taken to each other. She started yesterday and by ten a.m. Griffith had already managed to show her who was boss. She didn't move fast enough while she was changing him and he did a geyser on her just like he had done on me on Friday. She just laughed because she knew better than to leave a little boy armed and ready. After that, they got along just fine. I'm not sure she put him down all day and she sweet-talks him constantly. He loves it. I'm afraid that he isn't going to remember that his name is Griffith. All he hears all day long is Precious and Angel (which he particularly likes). Whatever else you can say about him, Griffith has a way with the ladies. He had a pretty good night tonight, too. He managed to find his thumb and has been working it over quite a bit. We haven't told him about Allan yet. We aren't sure that he is going to react well to having to share attention. Guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Griffith and Miss Flora have taken to each other. She started yesterday and by ten a.m. Griffith had already managed to show her who was boss. She didn't move fast enough while she was changing him and he did a geyser on her just like he had done on me on Friday. She just laughed because she knew better than to leave a little boy armed and ready. After that, they got along just fine. I'm not sure she put him down all day and she sweet-talks him constantly. He loves it. I'm afraid that he isn't going to remember that his name is Griffith. All he hears all day long is Precious and Angel (which he particularly likes). Whatever else you can say about him, Griffith has a way with the ladies. He had a pretty good night tonight, too. He managed to find his thumb and has been working it over quite a bit. We haven't told him about Allan yet. We aren't sure that he is going to react well to having to share attention. Guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Sunday 8/27
All in all we are having a pretty good run of days. Thursday night was a little long, especially for
Dad. He blames Caitlyn. Griffith refuses to sleep during the hours of 2:30 a.m. to about 4 a.m. This cuts in to Dad's sleep time considerably. He thought he was doing pretty well with it all -- until Cheryl pointed out that he had arrived at the NICU on Friday morning with his shirt inside out. Some days are better than others.
Griffith had a very good weekend despite the fact that my pride and joy and I didn't get started of on the right foot. On Friday morning, Rosa was coming to visit so that Mom could go to the hospital during the day. As I was changing his diaper and trying to get ready to go, he decided for the first time in ever to pee. And not just a little. A veritable geyser that hit me in the face, all down my shirt, all over the changing table. (He also hit himself in the face which served him right, little twerp.) So we both had to have a bath. Oh, well, as a result, he was wide awake and smelling like a rose when Rosa arrived. He seemed glad to see her -- she was pretty glad to see him, too. I'm not entirely certain, but I think she held him the whole time I was gone and kept telling him how handsome he is. Child will have no sense at all.
When I arrived at the hospital, Allan was sitting in his bouncy seat transfixed by the birds on the new mobile Cheryl found for him. He looked a little startled by them (a common reaction for Allan). The little birds were really quite charming -- think Disney bluebirds of happiness -- but he seemed skeptical. It just takes him a while to get used to new things. Allan hasn't been doing so well with the bottle-feeding. He had a couple of good days, but, then, lost interest or energy or something. He wasn't taking in enough by mouth so yesterday they put the NG tube back in. They will let him bottle feed for 30 minutes every 3 hours and what he doesn't take by mouth they will give him through the tube. We aren't quite sure how this is going to impact his coming home. They had been talking about next week, but this could delay it. How long we don't know. He could come home with an NG tube, although that would not be ideal. Even so, he has to be taking a certain amount by mouth before the docs would be comfortable sending him home. And some docs won't send him home with an NG regardless. And, of course, we are at the end of another month so the attending doctor will be changing. Again. No one seems to think that this sluggish eating is anything other than an annoyance that Allan will outgrow with time. What we are all coming to appreciate is that he seems to be content to putter along in first gear.
Yesterday, Cheryl came for a visit so that Mom and Dad could have a little time out. We had a nice leisurely lunch and did a little shopping. Just generally acted like real people. A welcome break. And, as much as I am sure that he missed us, Griffith seemed more than content to catch up with Cheryl.
In other news, we think that we have found someone to come and help take care of the boys. Miss Flora is a retired LPN who worked labor and delivery and in the nursery at a local hospital, had 5 kids of her own and has experience caring for multiples - twins, triplets and even a set of quads. Surely our two little ones will pose no great challenge to her. Anyway, she is going to start tomorrow. Once we are all used to each other, this should make it a lot easier for me to get back and forth to see Allan. And, just maybe, take a nap.
Dad. He blames Caitlyn. Griffith refuses to sleep during the hours of 2:30 a.m. to about 4 a.m. This cuts in to Dad's sleep time considerably. He thought he was doing pretty well with it all -- until Cheryl pointed out that he had arrived at the NICU on Friday morning with his shirt inside out. Some days are better than others.
Griffith had a very good weekend despite the fact that my pride and joy and I didn't get started of on the right foot. On Friday morning, Rosa was coming to visit so that Mom could go to the hospital during the day. As I was changing his diaper and trying to get ready to go, he decided for the first time in ever to pee. And not just a little. A veritable geyser that hit me in the face, all down my shirt, all over the changing table. (He also hit himself in the face which served him right, little twerp.) So we both had to have a bath. Oh, well, as a result, he was wide awake and smelling like a rose when Rosa arrived. He seemed glad to see her -- she was pretty glad to see him, too. I'm not entirely certain, but I think she held him the whole time I was gone and kept telling him how handsome he is. Child will have no sense at all.
When I arrived at the hospital, Allan was sitting in his bouncy seat transfixed by the birds on the new mobile Cheryl found for him. He looked a little startled by them (a common reaction for Allan). The little birds were really quite charming -- think Disney bluebirds of happiness -- but he seemed skeptical. It just takes him a while to get used to new things. Allan hasn't been doing so well with the bottle-feeding. He had a couple of good days, but, then, lost interest or energy or something. He wasn't taking in enough by mouth so yesterday they put the NG tube back in. They will let him bottle feed for 30 minutes every 3 hours and what he doesn't take by mouth they will give him through the tube. We aren't quite sure how this is going to impact his coming home. They had been talking about next week, but this could delay it. How long we don't know. He could come home with an NG tube, although that would not be ideal. Even so, he has to be taking a certain amount by mouth before the docs would be comfortable sending him home. And some docs won't send him home with an NG regardless. And, of course, we are at the end of another month so the attending doctor will be changing. Again. No one seems to think that this sluggish eating is anything other than an annoyance that Allan will outgrow with time. What we are all coming to appreciate is that he seems to be content to putter along in first gear.
Yesterday, Cheryl came for a visit so that Mom and Dad could have a little time out. We had a nice leisurely lunch and did a little shopping. Just generally acted like real people. A welcome break. And, as much as I am sure that he missed us, Griffith seemed more than content to catch up with Cheryl.
In other news, we think that we have found someone to come and help take care of the boys. Miss Flora is a retired LPN who worked labor and delivery and in the nursery at a local hospital, had 5 kids of her own and has experience caring for multiples - twins, triplets and even a set of quads. Surely our two little ones will pose no great challenge to her. Anyway, she is going to start tomorrow. Once we are all used to each other, this should make it a lot easier for me to get back and forth to see Allan. And, just maybe, take a nap.
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