Day of life: 49
Yesterday, we tried to give Tera two bottles in the same shift, at 11:30 and 5:30. She was much too tired to take the second one, so today we made a plan to spread them out a little more. I planned to be at the hospital for her 8:30 a.m. meal this morning, and made it just in time. Though our nurse yesterday wasn't with us today (she was called to work in the RNICU) she had briefed our nurse on the plan. We would give her a bottle at 8:30 and let her relax for the rest of the morning. Then, I would get to watch her get a bath sometime this afternoon, and hang around until she showed signs of wanting to try the bottle again.
I found a very alert Tera when I got there, which is usually a good sign that her feeding would go well. I've gotten in the habit of just sitting down and waiting on the nurse to hand her over, when what I really need to be doing is setting the stage for a successful meal. I should be dimming the lights and getting things as undistractable (if that's a word) as possible. Of course, I forgot to do this again this morning, which could be the reason why Tera seemed very uninterested in her bottle yet again. She took a few swigs but, for the most part, spit out what went in her mouth and just let the nipple hang out in her mouth for most of the ten minutes that she actually stayed awake. I tried unwrapping her just for a few seconds to arouse her, but to no avail. She was done for the morning.
I've said this before, that Tera is the type of baby who moves slowly at first then picks progresses suddenly as if she's been doing this new thing her whole life (all seven weeks of it!). I'm thinking the bottle feeding might not be an exception to this rule. While she has taken a few of her bottles with great ease, I think one day in the near future, things will just click suddenly, and it will be like she's always taken her food through a bottle instead of a feeding tube. We'll keep practicing, of course, but I give it until next week before things really start flowing smoothly.
I held her for the rest of her feeding. At least maybe she'll associate my smell with a full tummy.
I spent the rest of our morning (which went by very quickly) up and down between the couch and Tera's bed. She now weighs 1900 grams which is 4 pounds 3 ounces. I realized today how close she is getting to doubling her birthweight, which was 1070 grams. Everyone that has seen her or seen pictures of her talks about how different she looks now. Even the Neonatologist commented on her when he made his rounds today. He saw her only once in the RNICU but says he remembers how tiny she was then.
She's getting so chubby!
When the Nurse Practioner that came around with him reported that Tera has had no apnea and no bradies (heartrate drops) in the last two days, the Neonatologist said that if she continues that streak for another couple of days, they will take her off of her Aminophylin (spelling?). He explained that Aminophylin doesn't "cure" apnea, it just helps to control it when babies are this little. Her apnea won't be completely gone until the part of her brain stem that tells her to breathe is fully developed. I guess the fact that she is having fewer apnea episodes (though I don't think she's never had that many to begin with) means that part is beginning to function correctly. We'll know more when she's completely off the medication. Apnea has not been something that I have worried about with Tera, I think because it's never been her big issue. Now that she won't be depending on the medicine to help her control it, I'll probably be asking more questions about it in the days to come.
The only other adventure we had this morning was not an adventure at all really. When I reached in to touch her, her feet felt a little cold, and her temperature probe confirmed that she was cooler than we would like her to be. So the nurse covered her with some blankets and that was that. A few minutes later, she was toasty again.
I left around lunch time to eat and get some rest back at Lydia's. We had scheduled the bath for late afternoon, just before her 5:30 meal, so I got back in plenty of time to witness. I have learned over the last few days that apparently this whole bath thing isn't that big of a deal. It's something they usually do on the night shift because it's quieter and they seem to have more time then. Apparently, lots of parents don't witness this version of Bath Time very often, but I was still glad that our nurses planned to do it while I could be there.
The nurse did all the work. I just stood back and took lots of pictures. I think when she is able to be bathed in the big sink, I will get to participate more. Tera did great! She only fussed a couple of times but no real crying. She mostly looked confused, as if she wasn't really sure what was happening and how she was supposed to feel about it. In truth, she was much better than Canon was during his first bath. That baby screamed like I was yanking his limbs right off his body. I guess Tera is used to being man-handled a little more vigorously than Canon ever was.
To bathe her, the nurse took her out of her isolette and laid her on the scale.
There was a bucket of water next to her. I thought, from a conversation I had with another nurse last week, that Tera would sit in the bucket to be bathed, but this was not the case. Instead, the nurse dipped the rag in the water, then scrubbed Tera down from neck to toes with water and Johnson & Johnson.
I got a short video of the event.
This is one of my favorite pictures. We were waiting on the nurse to get a new probe for her oxygen saturation monitor to wrap around her foot after she washed it. Tera's arms were flailing around a bit, so I reached over to try to give her some boundaries. She grabbed my finger and held it close to her face. So sweet!
Once her body was clean, the nurse wrapped her up and got ready to wash her hair.
She used this white plastic brush to scrub her head. I was glad. Tera still has some of the sticky residue left from the IV that was in her head, and I am eager to see it gone.
Then a quick rinse.
"Mommy, is this ok?"
I think, by the end, she may have actually enjoyed it.
A quick nudity shot . . .
Enjoy that tiny hiney, Tera. If you got any of your mother's genes, it won't be that way for long. It does appear that you inherited Doc's love handles. (Love you, Dad!).
Once she was back in her bed, I got to rub lotion on her. The pink kind - my favorite. She smells so good now! And what an attractive new Do! I think she's confused again about how to handle all of this commotion.
While her oxygen saturation stayed absolutely perfect throughout the whole bath (she even high-satted several times), Tera's body temperature was bound to drop. Even the heat lamp we bathed her under wasn't quite enough to keep her exactly the right temperature. So, it was back under the blankets (still confused!).
Once she was settled, it was time to eat again. I know you can't see her at all, but I love this picture.
I had originally planned to stay until 8:30 tonight so that I could try to give her another bottle. After seeing how exhausted Tera was after the bath, I decided that she might not be alert enough to work for her dinner so soon. I, too, was pretty exhausted from such a long (but great) day at the hospital, so I decided to head back to Lydia's earlier than originally planned. I treated myself to some take-out sushi on the way.
What About Barry and Canon
Canon had a fun-filled day in Winfield. He went for a walk with Nonna and some of her friends, then spent some time at Poppa's office. He and Nonna went to buy some plants this afternoon to put in a pot. While they were working outside, they found Barry's handprint in the driveway, made when they built their house almost 20 years ago.
It's moments like these that I realize how quickly time passes and what a tiny blip this whole experience is going to end up being in our lives. I'm sure Nonna and Poppa never imagined that this handprint would so quickly belong to a 30-year-old man with a wife and two kids.
Barry had a good day as well. He loved the pictures I sent to him of Tera, especially the ones of her all bundled up this morning. He wrote back to me "My little girl is so cute." Before telling him how sweet I think he is, I played the sarcastic card and told him "That's pretty arrogant - she looks just like you!" I really need to practice saying the nice things first.
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