So today, after my blog post of the morning, I had a feeling that I was going to see my not-so-favorite-nurse when we got to the hospital. Sure enough she was taking care of Gabby today. A different nurse had Claire. Why they split them all up and make the poor nurses hop from pod to pod is beyond me, but oh well. Gabby’s nurse told us that she had been awake crying on and off from about 7:30 when she decided she was hungry till about 9 when she actually was “allowed” to eat. It’s things like that that really upset me. I mean really REALLY! I’m glad that Stu was there with me today because I might have gone all “mama bear” if I’d been there hearing that on my own. Especially since this nurse’s way of dealing with it was to give her the passi (which Gabby isn’t too excited with) and wrap her up. I felt like asking, “Did you ever consider picking her up to comfort her??” Ugh!
Needless to say I needed some good news after that. And we got it too! Our other nurse came in and told us that Claire’s feeding order had changed to “Ad lib on demand” which means, she can eat anytime between 2 and 4 hours and she can eat as much as she wants. (well, as long as she’s meeting her shift minimum- which I’ve mentioned before) This is a fantastic step!! Once they get to this “level” it’s usually only a matter of days before they are able to go home!!! HOW EXCITING!! Of course it would be more ideal if both of our girls could leave together, but we’ve realized for awhile now that it’s not likely.
We managed to miss Claire’s first “on demand” feeding because we stepped out to get a sandwich for lunch and the nurse told us that she started fussing like 5 min later. She took 85cc’s during that feeding. The amount that she had been getting at each feed was 55cc’s so that’s quite a big jump. I’m not sure I would have let her take quite that much more on her first try just because her poor little tummy doesn’t know what it’s like to be THAT full! She seemed to have a really hard time settling down after that and Stu and I took turns holding her till she FINALLY fell asleep about an hour and a half later. But at least I wasn’t concerned about her meeting her shift minimum for the day since she only had about 20cc’s left! 🙂
Anyway, keep praying that Claire would be out soon and that Gabby will make quick progress so we can all go home!
Claire’s face kept going from this…
to this after she ate so much! I think it was pretty overwhelming.