This morning I arrived at the NICU at 9am, and although I hadn't yet got permission to "wet" nurse Oliver, that's what I did as I was 99% sure I would get that permission when they did rounds a bit later. He does a great job of latching on and sucking. The problem is that he doesn't last long at all. I am trying to avoid the shield this time around, but if that will help him get out of the NICU faster, I will agree to using the shield. He's still getting his full feeds by tube, which is fine by me as I am certain he's not getting enough by mouth yet. Around 11am the doctors did their rounds and they decided to turn off the heat in his isolette to see if he can maintain his body temperature without it adversely affecting his weight. He's now wearing a onesie, sleeper, two receiving blankets, and a hat when he's in his isolette since they turned the heat off. Today was his first time ever wearing a onesie. He wore several of them today due to leaky diapers and such. I took a picture of him (below) wearing a onesie that read "Little Brother." How appropriate! It's quite a contrast as just a few days ago he was naked (only wearing a diaper) in his isolette and the last couple of days he's only worn a sleeper. It will be easier to get him dressed, change his diaper, etc. once he's out of the isolette. They aren't doing any room air trials with him today because they actually had to increase his oxygen, except when I was holding him this morning they turned it down a notch because his saturation levels were too high. He looked like he had a sunburn his face was so red! The doctors did give me permission to "wet" nurse him every 3 hours. YAY! I'm still praying he'll be discharged on Labor Day, which is 12 days from now. You can do it, Oliver!!!
I checked into the RMH right after the doctors did their rounds. I am so grateful to have a room so I can get some sleep in between nursing him throughout the night. On Saturday and Sunday I'm going to ask Paul to bring the kids down and spend a few hours here as they have a nice playground here at the RMH as well as a nice playroom inside with lots of toys. This way I can spend time with the kids, and it will be much easier to entertain them that it was at the hospital in Harrisburg. Since the kids are at Paul's parents' house tonight, I've asked him to come down and spend a couple of hours with me this evening in between the 6pm and 9pm feedings. He's going to bring a Netflix dvd that we both wanted to watch. I'm glad Oliver is at a hospital close enough to home that we can do something like this. Since he's not consuming very much milk when nursing, I am pumping after I nurse him. I definitely will get to hold him a lot more between now and his discharge than I have the previous two weeks, but I am not going to hold him ALL the time. I know from experience (Ian) that it's not good to have a baby trained to be held 24 hours a day. Today he was held for quite awhile by my pastor (see photo above). Pastor Jamie was Oliver's first non-family visitor, and his 9th visitor altogether (others include Paul, my mom, Paul's parents, me, Nadia, Ian, and Aunt Debbie).
During the night, I am going to drive back and forth between the Children's Hospital and the RMH, but during the day (if it's not raining), I am planning to walk back and forth in an attempt to gradually get myself back in shape. I get out of breath SO easily these days due to 10+ weeks of bed rest.
I checked into the RMH right after the doctors did their rounds. I am so grateful to have a room so I can get some sleep in between nursing him throughout the night. On Saturday and Sunday I'm going to ask Paul to bring the kids down and spend a few hours here as they have a nice playground here at the RMH as well as a nice playroom inside with lots of toys. This way I can spend time with the kids, and it will be much easier to entertain them that it was at the hospital in Harrisburg. Since the kids are at Paul's parents' house tonight, I've asked him to come down and spend a couple of hours with me this evening in between the 6pm and 9pm feedings. He's going to bring a Netflix dvd that we both wanted to watch. I'm glad Oliver is at a hospital close enough to home that we can do something like this. Since he's not consuming very much milk when nursing, I am pumping after I nurse him. I definitely will get to hold him a lot more between now and his discharge than I have the previous two weeks, but I am not going to hold him ALL the time. I know from experience (Ian) that it's not good to have a baby trained to be held 24 hours a day. Today he was held for quite awhile by my pastor (see photo above). Pastor Jamie was Oliver's first non-family visitor, and his 9th visitor altogether (others include Paul, my mom, Paul's parents, me, Nadia, Ian, and Aunt Debbie).
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