Tonight I took the night shift and let Kate get some rest. The 24 hour observation for the ph study was really a pain and has wiped us both out. It seems like a lot of hassle to go through to confirm what everyone was already saying, he has reflux. I don't know why they just don't treat for reflux and see if the symptoms go away. The treatment can be as simple as elevating their head while in bed and giving them Zantac, an over the counter drug. Instead they take days to get a specialist and make us stay up all night recording data that frankly they shouldn't need us to record since he is already hooked up to monitors. Why have a low cost quick solution when you can have a high cost one that takes a long time?
They have rescheduled his hernia surgery for Monday instead of Friday, I believe because of the eye situation. That means the earliest he could possibly come home would be Wednesday of next week.
Angela was Henry's nurse again tonight. She weighed him in at 2050 grams again. I knew I shouldn't have been so excited about his weight gain the other day. Now we are back to the typical routine, big weight gains followed by no gain or losses.
I found him resting comfortably. He is now in a crib instead of a bassinet. He is in a Danny Sling which keeps him in position while he is tipped up. Without it he would slide down the mattress to the bottom of the crib.
Around 9pm he got fussy so I did his cares and he got weighed. Then he was fed. He hasn't been eating as much for me the last couple nights. Hopefully as he gets better rest due to the lack of reflux he will regain his appetite.
I stayed around through another feeding a couple hours later. When I left he was resting quietly. He wasn't quite asleep but was pretty close.
The NICU was much quieter tonight. The number of babies was down from 26 to 23. Last night I believe they had two new arrivals. Holly was on vacation but they called her and she came in anyway because they were so busy. It is sad to see it when it is busy because you know that so many people are going through the same pain that we have been going through.
Adjusted Age
5 comments:
Jeff also took the shift Tuesday night when Angela was on duty. Holly stopped by. She looked at the monitors and it turned out that Henry had had a brady at 7PM. And, he had another brady when Jeff was with him.
When I got there in the morning yesterday, I asked Jean (his day nurse) about the bradys. No one had told her about them. And, neither Melita or Angela had put Tuesday's bradys in the computer, meaning that the staff wasn't aware of them. Kind of important when a baby shouldn't be released until he has gone five days without them. They had already gone through rounds, unaware that Henry had had bradys. But at least Jean informed Andrea, the nurse practitioner on duty.
The GI doctor showed up while Henry was eating, meaning that I had to close up shop while he came into the room to talk. Henry screamed through the whole visit, so I didn't asked a lot of questions. He said Henry had mild-to-moderate reflux.
On top of that, one of the nurses stopped by. "Oh, Henry is still so small," she said. So different from her large two year old at home. Between that, and the comment made the other day by one of the nurse practitioners who had been on vacation for two months who said, "I wasn't expecting me to see any of the babies who were here before I left" (translation: He must not have done that well over the two months) have made me feel pretty crappy about Henry's situation.
I found yesterday very draining. I'm so tired of going down there every day. I just want Henry home. I wish I could just wake up from this nightmare of an experience and have a do-over...one where I got a competent OB from the start. So yes, maybe Henry would have been born earlier, but not quite so devastating early and not quite so light.
Kate, Jen just gave me the address. This is the first day I have read and I want to catch up. I too hope you are able to bring Henry home soon.
Thanks for the journal and we love you guys!
Brenda
Hi Kate and Jeff,
I know I don't post every day, but I read this blog every day. I think of you guys constantly, and am hoping and praying that Henry gets to go home ASAP.
Must go and nurse Isabel -- nursing is serious work and so much time!
Love -- Jen
Hi Brenda and Jenny,
Greetings. I've been meaning to call both of you, but I haven't been home much. Not allowed to have cell phones in the NICU, which means I've been pretty much a hermit for the last 103 days.
I sent out emails of the blog on 5/28. Lovely school email didn't send them out, so I resent a FW of the email on 5/30. Frustrating that some people didn't get it. Arg.
Well, I have to get ready for the hospital, as it is Henry's big eye day.
Love to Austin and Isabel!
== Kate
P.S.
I agree, nursing is tons of work. Henry has been preferring the bottle for the most part, although he did a great job last night. I know that they call it "nipple confusion" when they don't take to the breast after having been exposed to the bottle. I don't think Henry is confused. He does have a preference, the path of least resistance, which means bottle.
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