Sorry that I didn't get to post last night- the blog site was acting up so I called it quits and went to bed. I hope can remember everything that happened over the past two days! By the way- I’m not proofing this, so please excuse my mistakes- I’m pretty tired tonight.
TUESDAY-
First of all- I know you're dying of suspense- yes, he pooped!! He shot out the suppository as soon as the day nurse put it in yesterday and promptly followed it up with a sizable poo Tuesday. Everyone was terribly impressed.
Bottle-feeding went extremely well on Tuesday too. He's taking bottles like he's done it the whole time. I think he's just thankful to be fed, he doesn't want to fuss and mess it up! I got nervous first thing in the morning because when I was wiping off what I thought was extra milk from Liam's chin, I noticed his shirt was wet as well as his blanket. Once I got to changing his clothes and bedding, I saw it wasn't just spit up, but it was a bright yellow, like what had been coming up in his NG tube yesterday. My heart sank thinking we were already experiencing a set back and they would stop feedings and put the tube in. The nurse examined it for me and said she didn't think the doctor would have a problem with it, but she would be sure to verify during rounds. It turns out they are only concerned with green spit up (which means GET YOUR CHILD TO THE ER IMMEDIATELY) or if the yellow comes up a lot. Holding my breath this is our only yellow spit up of the day (it was!).
We had a lot of visitors that morning. Dr Dobak (my high risk doctor) came by to see how little Liam turned out. He was beaming when he saw the little guy we got to know on the ultrasound wide awake and enjoying life. It must be so rewarding for doctors to see "their" babies pull through. We also had a visit from the hospital chaplain and my friend's father-in-law that makes rounds from a local church. They both were wishing us well and were so thrilled Liam was progressing. He was very socialable that morning, like he knew he had to show off a little for the on-lookers.
By mid-morning we got word that Liam was "too healthy for his little private room" as his pediatrician said in her Icelandic accent. There's another baby that's much sicker who needs the room. Oh well! It was great while it lasted! We loved the privacy, getting to spread out all our gear, having lights off when we wanted. Poor Liam got spoiled- time to make the move kid. We're still in Level 3 (reminder- Level 1 means you're almost out the door to go home) so the move doesn't mean anything at this point, just another baby needed more privacy than he did (since his belly's now all put back together).
I didn't get to see Liam for the rest of the morning because they were doing a procedure in the Level 3 area on another baby so they needed the environment sterile, meaning no visitors can come in until they're done. It's a little frustrating when that happens because we want to be with our babies so badly, but of course you understand why there has to be a delay. This procedure was going to take a few hours so luckily my mom and aunt were coming in town early so I went to lunch with them! The day nurse called me when the procedure was done so I knew when I could go back up (she's so great to me like that!).
There had been some buzz during the day about possibly getting to breastfeed on Wednesday, but I didn't want to get my hopes up in case it didn't happen. While I was at lunch, surgery did their rounds and the surgeon on shift that day is quite liberal and wanted to bump up Liam's feedings by 5 ccs every feed and have me breastfeeding right away. Our nurse has seen a lot of gastro babies come through the NICU and she suggested to me to go up every other feed and wait until Wednesday to breastfeed. She didn't want Liam to get pushed too much and then have a setback. I totally agreed with her plan of action, but it was nice to know surgery wasn't the ones holding us back now.
I had a brief meeting with the lactation consultant about how I was doing pumping and how I could best get ready for breastfeeding the next day. We set an appointment time for 11am Wednesday to try Liam's first breastfeeding, bedside. She also quizzed me about what classes we had done, if things were ready at home, and if we had the car seat sorted. She was making it sound like we needed to prep this week and next week because we could be getting home that soon. I told her I hadn't wanted to think about prepping to go home yet until I was more sure about when it was going to happen. I mean, Liam had only been eating for 24 hours, what if something were still to go wrong? She said, what if it were to go right? You don't want to hold up getting your baby home (good point). We have to take a Discharge Class for NICU babies- Liam actually does come with an instruction book!! The class is more for parents with preemies or those going home with medical equipment, but it's also helpful for first-time parents of newborns (Steve) or those who need a refresher (me!). It was also suggested to take an infant CPR course too (which anyone with children- or anyone who keeps your children- should absolutely take). There was so much to do!!
Mom came up after lunch and finally got to hold Liam. The only other visit she had was the day of his surgery so he was definitely in a better mood this day! After that, it was time to head to Daphne for my nephew's first birthday party! Riley was waiting for me at our house so we had a quick moment to get the birthday boy some presents before it was time to head over to Jeff and Leah's for dinner and cake. They asked for us not to bother with toys really since Jax has quite a few already. So Riley decided Jax needed some books and he should get Riley's favorites- The Foot Book and Hop on Pop. There was also a Happy Birthday book by Dr. Seuss so he threw that in too. Jeff and Leah grilled burgers for us and both sides of the family (including the visiting Aussie branch) stopped by to celebrate. Jax had his own little cake to plow through, but he was not too sure about playing with his food (Leah's taught him such great table manners!). He wasn't even sure about the icing they tried to give him. It reminded me of Riley's smash cake- he just didn't know quite what to do with it until one of the day care ladies took his hand through the cake. Then he had a blast mushing it up- some even ended up on the back of his head somehow! The ladies had to strip him down and scrub him up in the sink- they were so great about making his birthday special at St Pius, so glad I got to slip out of work to see it! Jax and Riley had a blast playing together. They really respond to each other and Jax won't let Riley out of his sight (and Riley eats that up!).
Pretty soon, it was time for me and Steve to head back to Pensacola for the night feeding. I couldn't wait for Steve to see Liam's new set up and hear about how great he was doing. Daddy was very impressed and was glad to get a good visit in to Liam before heading back for another day of work. Liam is up to 7 lbs 10 oz now (born at 6 lbs 8 oz back on 27 Jan). He had some smears of poop in his diaper during the day which was an encouraging sign because they discontinued suppositories after the big diaper that morning, just to see what he could push out on his own.
Up next- breastfeeding!! (Wednesday’s update will have to wait, but so I don’t keep you in suspense- breastfeeding was a success and there’s talk that next week looks very probable for us to go home, but to still be wary setbacks can still occur).
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