On this, Canon's second day at OLS, I managed to hold myself together while Canon was business as usual, walking in shyly and joining his new crowd of friends. Upon entering the hospital, I found my second little munchkin just as happy and content as the first.
Yesterday, I had predicted to our nurse that Tera would be sick by the end of the week. Her bed oxygen was high, her heart rate was high, and her respiratory rate was all over the place - high and low at any given point. These same "symptoms" came about last week when the doctors did a work-up to check for infection and Tera spent the morning in and out of apnea spells. The only thing missing yesterday was the apnea, but I've been expecting it to come about at any time now.
Apparently, Tera heard me confess this to the nurse, and apparently, she doesn't like being called out in front of her caretakers. When I walked in this morning, I found her doing nothing but improving. She has gained weight, now up to 3 pounds 4 ounces, and her bed oxygen has dropped a few percentage points to 32%. Her heart rate is back to its normal 150-170 range, and her respiratory rate seems to be more stable. Hey, Tera! Bet you won't be ready to go home before your due date. (Does reverse psychology work on people who can't yet speak?).
Something you should know about Munchkin #2 is that she is a Burier. She loves to bury her head either in her arms . . . in the towel they put under her head to catch her spit up . . . in her spit up . . . She has even been known to pick her head up and turn it face down into her blankets. This used to cause some problems for her nurses because she would frequently de-sat due to the decrease of oxygen getting into her nose. As she has grown stronger, however, she is able to bury while still maintaining a healthy oxygen saturation. Needless to say, I get at least one picture like this . . .
. . . everyday.
MyGoo made it for her weekly visit around lunchtime. While she left to get us lunch, I detoured to the March of Dimes Family Hour to learn about bottle-feeding my baby. This is still a couple of weeks away, but it's exciting to get ready for it. I was half an hour late - for various reasons - so I'm not sure what I missed. I learned a lot, however, that I had never considered. For example, one thing that is very important is to keep stimulation to a bare minimum during her first bottle feeds. This means low lighting, no TV (though I think it's only been on twice during our whole stay), basically no extra stimulation of any kind. She will also need to be swaddled tightly to keep her arms tight against her. All of this has to do with keeping her focused on that suck-swallow-breathe sequence she needs to master. Anything that will divert her attention from that is not allowed in the room. I talked to my nurse a couple of days ago to ask if mom's were allowed to give the first bottle. It seems like kind of a scary thing, so I wasn't sure if it was something I am qualified for. She said that I definitely am qualified, and she wrote on the board in Tera's room that I wanted to give her the first bottle. That way, when the doctors give the orders to let her start trying it, they can plan it around a time when I will be there (shouldn't be too hard!).
Also at this luncheon, I saw some of the mom's I had met at previous events. One mother in particular I was very happy to see. I thought that she had lost her baby, but as it turns out, they are hoping to go home in the next couple of weeks (Rumors spread easy around here, too). Her child is off the ventilator and on CPAP. The heart condition he was born with (what I thought was his reason for being here) is actually not the problem. That is something they will have to deal with in the future, but for now, they are just trying to get him breathing better on his own.
MyGoo and I spent the afternoon hanging out and looking at Tera. I took this picture just before MyGoo left. I find it completely hilarious, especially since it's going to embarrass the stew out of her in about sixteen years.
I can't tell if she's going to be modest or if this is an early sign of her calling to be a pop star. I'm hoping for the former.
MyGoo and I left the hospital around 3:00. MyGoo was headed back home, and I was going to pick up Canon early to go to a birthday celebration for (Big) Tera. You may remember me mentioning this in an earlier post when (Big) Tera's best friends, Alyssa, visited us. Every year, some of Tera's classmates get together to celebrate her birthday by having cake and releasing purple balloons in the air. Purple was Tera's favorite color, and she was always eager to remind you. When I held (Baby) Tera earlier today, I covered her with a purple blanket in (Big) Tera's memory.
Tera's birthday was actually February 20, but for various reasons, the celebration was held today.
Above is Tera's mother, Pat. I'm sure she hates me now for putting this picture here, but she is as wonderfully strong as her daughter and has earned the recognition.
Here is a picture of the group that got together to release balloons.
We all wrote messages on pieces of paper and tied the paper to the balloon strings. My message said that we love and miss Tera everyday, and thank you for watching out for us, especially now.
Canon was exhausted when I picked him up from school, even falling asleep in the car on the way to the balloon release. He loves balloons but refused to take one when it was offered to him. Of course, as soon as they were all gone, he fussed that he wanted one. Poor thing. I found out later he had a low-grade fever and just wasn't feeling well. At this point, however, he just seemed overwhelmed and tired. He wanted me to hold him the entire time. I did for as long as I could (he rarely asks me to hold him, so I wanted to take advantage), but the 31-pounds eventually wore on my back.
When we left, Pat gave us a gift - two Creative Memories scrapbooks, one for each of my children. I realized a couple of days later when I got them out to look that she had already started both of them. Even after six years, she still knows me well enough to know that I need a little push to get things moving.
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