NICU Day 105 - Negative is a Good Thing!

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

I don't know why some days my body seems tuned in to waking up for pumping and other days I sleep right through my alarm.  I had the kids all to myself Monday night.  I decided not to clean or blog after returning from the NICU around 11:30, pumped and headed straight to bed.  At some point in the early morning hours, Trevy came into our room.  I don't remember much other than letting her climb in with me and the next thing I knew I was waking up again and it was 7am.  Whoops!  LOVE the sleep (albeit interrupted) but 7 hours without pumping is a long time!  Fortunately none of the kids were awake so I got to pump AND shower!  Awesome!
The U5 ladies arrived again right on time.  They have been amazing.  It takes the kids a little while to warm up to new faces but they pretty much take to anyone who will push them on the swings.  Unfortunately, they don't all take to people at the same time and oftentimes one of them will thwart the napping efforts by not leaving my side.  Oh well.

We then went over and swam with Melissa for about an hour before James returned home.  He had just stayed through rounds although the nurses made it sound like he was free to leave even earlier, even though he really wasn't there for 24 hours as Timmy's care giver.  Whatever.  I'm not worried in the slightest.  He is an intelligent man and a great dad and I know he will do fine with Timmy at home.  Midnight feedings are not exactly his strong suit, but I really don't see either of us having Timmy all by ourself overnight any time soon.  (Other than my own slumber party in the NICU this Friday.)

I went over to the hospital for Timmy's 2pm feeding.  Ashley had Timmy again.  Things were pretty busy in the room.  Axel was heading out for another procedure/exam and the other families were there as well.  We got the curtains closed and did our thing.  I am always amazed at how quickly I could/can/do fall asleep while nursing.  It really is quite relaxing sitting there snuggling a cute little bundle.  I told Ashley I would be back again for the 5pm feeding and went to grab a cup of ice water to take with me on the way to fill Timmy's Ursodiol presciption.  It normally comes in a caplet (I believe) and has to be compounded into liquid form.  Dr. Edde was outside the "snack shack" and stopped to talk to me for a bit about Timmy and finally clear up the confusion on how long he would need to be on the antibiotic.  He will need to be on the IV antibiotic for seven days with five days of negative cultures.  Then he will be cleared for discharge (barring any other random hurdle) and placed on oral antibiotics for another two days.  At that point, Timmy had had two positive cultures and another blood draw Tuesday morning.  Any time he has a positive culture, the will draw blood again and we start counting the five days.  He will remain on the antibiotic regardless and will just stay on it two days passed the fifth day of negative cultures which, we hope, will be Saturday, although we won't know until Sunday morning.  (The cultures are examined every 24 hours so the blood was drawn Tuesday morning to be checked Wednesday morning for a 24-hour culture.)  The waiting is aggravating.  I know there is no way to speed anything up, but it doesn't make it any easier to wait.  At least I know that next Tuesday will be the earliest Timmy will be released and that's what I'm planning on at this point in time.

The house was completely silent when I returned home around 4:00.  James had taken Trevy into our room and they were both asleep.  (I had put the twins down before I left.)  I wholly intended to join them but never made it.  Not sure I would have been able to get myself back up and over to the hospital for Timmy's 5:00 feeding if I had.  Still, longing for sleep...it's hard to pass up an open window, however small.

The next feeding also went well.  He nursed 25 minutes both times without problem.  He had a scalp IV placed for the antibiotic and it really didn't seem to bother him.  I just remember thinking that I really hope Vivien is around when it comes time to take that thing out!

I got some sweet pictures of Timmy in the daylight.

Sleeping while holding his arms up.  I don't know how he does this.

Gotta love those little sleepy smiles.

My favorite.

When I returned around 10:00 in preparation for the 11:00pm feeding, Jenny told me that Timmy's scalp line was occluded.  Which means they would need to find another site to place an IV to run his antibiotic.  My mind couldn't think of a spot I hadn't seen a bruise on.  My poor little sweetie.  He really did look like he had been through a gauntlet.  His eyes were also a little bruised from having yet another eye exam - no changes to report.  Still Stage I ROP so the doctor is going to continue to check him.  Still expecting things to resolve naturally.  Oh please, oh please!

Chris had the two boys in front.  When she and Jenny are both on, it's very advantageous to no longer have Timmy and Axel paired so they can both be in the room now.  I thoroughly enjoy it.  Sure going to miss those ladies!

Timmy gained another 10g.  Not a lot, but still gaining.  He ate well again and I put him down for bed a little after midnight.  It's just so much easier to leave when he is peacefully asleep.  I think maybe deep down psychologically there's a part of me that thinks he sleeps from the time I leave until the time I next arrive and I really don't miss anything.

One sad moment this evening was Doug stopping by again.  I went into the front room also on my way out to say goodbye.  Doug is going on vacation for two weeks and I don't think Timmy has that long left in the NICU.  I sure hope not!  But I will miss him too.  Doug has been such a great support ever since he had Timmy in the old unit, often stopping by to check in on him.  I hope he has a wonderful trip back to Pennsylvania!