Kilo Reached

The NICU noise was quite high last night. I arrived around 9:30PM. They put a full-term baby right next to Henry. The baby was there for observation. The baby made loud sounds, kind of like wind whistling through the trees foreshadowing a big storm. The nurse attending the baby was really loud. She said in a loud voice, "Keep it up. Scream to get those lungs working." The nurse was far louder than the baby. While waiting for the baby to do something, she talked with one of the other nurses about dog collars (she shops at Petsmarts). I was getting frustrated because Henry started fussing. His sats were OK, but the sound clearly bothered him. Henry's podmate across from him was bothered by the noise too. She started crying when the nurse got loud. I finally said something to Kathy. I asked if she knew if the baby was going to be in the pod for a long time because Henry and Bryanna had been moved to the end of the pod to stay away from loud noises; putting a loud baby next to them didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And there were other slots available on the other side of the pod where they could have admitted the full-term baby (and his noisy nurse). Kathy talked with the nurse and got the "Well, this is where they decided to put him" response. At least her inquiry seemed to quiet the noisy nurse down.

It is frustrating. I know that there are times when the NICU is going to be noisy. Alarms go off. That can't be helped, because they serve an important purpose. Emergencies happen. But why, why, why do people have to talk in loud voices about trivia. I'm all for camaraderie. These personal discussions, however, could easily take place in quiet voices.

Kathy had put Henry on his tummy before I arrived. He had the blankets around him, so I initially couldn't see him well. I didn't want to disturb him when he was sleeping. When he started kicking his sheets off, I peaked into his isolette. He turned himself onto his side but was constrained by the tube from his PIC line. I reached into his isolette to give him a little more slack so he could move his arm around. He ended up rolling onto his back. I was impressed that he can already turn from tummy to back (at minus eight weeks old).

Holly did the shift change with Kathy around 11PM or so. Henry looked awake around 11:40PM, so Holly and I started on his cares. Jeff arrived around midnight. He'd been doing work all day. The noise had subsided by this time, so Jeff was able to do skin-to-skin with Henry. Holly helped us get into position for kangaroo care. And then Jeff kangarooed with Henry for about an hour. Before putting him back, Holly changed Henry's linens. She put some of his new blankets and sheets in his isolette (the new linens that his Grandma and Grandpa dropped off earlier in the day). Henry was alert when he was put back in his isolette. He was weighed twice and found to be 1,000 grams both times. The 1 kilogram mark has been reached! I suspect that some of it is fluid retention. By this time, Jeff and I were absolutely wiped out, but Henry's eyes were wide-open. He was very into his pacifier, which seems to relax him.

When I woke up this morning, I called the NICU to check on Henry. Joyce is taking care of him today. This is her last day before she goes on vacation. I assume that means that Holly will be assigned to Henry tonight. Then she is going on vacation as well. Joyce said that Henry was sleeping. She said that he's looking a little puffy. This is probably because Dr. Wispe dropped his Lasix dosage down to every other day. On the one hand, Lasix helps get rid of extra fluids. On the other hand, one doesn't want Henry to become diuretic dependent. Henry had his last dose yesterday morning. Hopefully, his kidneys will kick into high gear on their own.