Saturday, March 7, 2009
Bottle Feeding
Today I worked with Reagan to bottle feed and she took 16mL (a drastic improvement from the 5 mLs the other night). She did so well but boy is it different than feeding Aubrey was! Reagan gained weight and is now 3lb. 3 oz. Cameron lost weight but is still at around 2lbs. 7 oz. Cameron worked with the OT yesterayto see if she was ready to work on bottle feeding but she could have cared less! She was not interested! Today out of curiosity I asked the doctor about a timeline and what would be the earliest Reagan may come home and she said about 4 weeks or so! Crazy! I worked with speech today and tomorrow we will work with the OT. Hopefully I will continue to improve the more that I do it. We have a lot of work to do if we are going to be ready in time. The criteria are: at least 4 lbs., taking all feeds orally, maintain body temperature in an open crib, pass the carseat challenge test (sitting in the car seat for approx. 1 hour with no bradys or desats). Reagan's nurse said that we would know it is getting close when she is at oral feeds 3 times a shift. Wow! I can't imagine!
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Do they give you the opportunity there to "ROOM IN" there? Once Wyatt hit the open crib it was about a week later that he went home. The rooming in was nice. We were in a room outside the NICU where we had Wyatt to ourselves but could call the nurse when it was feeding time. It's very exciting when they get that close!!! But scary when you take something that small home. You think you were nervous when you drove Aubrey home....just wait!!!! :) Exciting but nervous.
ReplyDeleteYes, we do have to room in - we have to stay in a care by parent room a night or two before we go home. This happens after we have been given the training to handle any special needs that we will be going home with, infant cpr, etc. They keep the baby still on the monitors and let you do a trial run by yourself before going home. Which is comforting. Yes, I am very nervous. It is funny because this is what we have been pryaing for but now that it is approaching, I am so happy but soooooo nervous. I think the only way I will make it through the first few days will be just praying my way through it. I am also nervous about splitting my time between the hospital and the house once Reagan is home. Oh well, it will all work out. I just need to worry about right now and handle the other stuff when it gets here!
ReplyDeleteYes, bringing one home and leaving the other is difficult. But concentrate on one thing at a time. Nathan came home a month before Evan and splitting the time was hard. I shouldn't say hard because my family made it easy for me by watching Nathan anytime I wanted to be with Evan at the hospital and yours will too. Remember, you have so many people (both family and friends) who want to help but feel like their hand are tied right now. Maybe once Reagan comes home there will be more opportunity for others to help you. (At the same time I know you have to be very careful when they first come home not to expose them to too much.)
ReplyDeleteI now have a whole new way to pray for you and Seth. As wonderful as it is to see your girls get healthy and ready to come home it gets harder and harder to leave them at the hospital. As my boys got healthier and bigger I could never leave the NICU while they were awake. I wanted them to be asleep when I left. Although I knew they would wake up or be woken up many times before I was back...In my mind they were peaceful and asleep when I left and happy when I came back :) Please let us know how we can pray for you.