NICU update - day 6

I'm not trying to be negative when I say I have some nurses I prefer over others. I stay out of their way and we converse regularly. The NICU nurses are amazing people and I owe them so, so much! Craig and I have frequently talked about how special and truly incredible they are. So when I say I'm not too fond of Gabe's assigned nurse today, that's saying something. She is the cutest grandmother type figure, but as a nurse, she's not so hot. Keep reading, it'll make sense.

I forgot to post that Gabe got a new IV port yesterday because the vein where his port was in his arm was blown. Yesterday's nurse installed (inserted?) it in his foot and promptly diapered said foot so he wouldn't knock it loose. She said she was hopeful that the vein may hold until Gabe is discharged, but that he may need one more. I sat in the nursing room as I heard him cry in pain as the procedure was being done. I wanted to run out there and scoop him up, but I sat there and listened to him cry (makes the thought of him getting his vaccines a piece of cake!). Eventually, I was able to scoop him up and cuddle and calm him down.

Today's on-call physician's assistant has changed Gabe's antibiotic schedule to every 8 hours (it was every 12 before), so instead of 2 am/pm, he's getting it 10 am, 6 pm, and 2 am. For the first time, I was here for his antibiotic dosage. Normally, I'm shoving some food in my mouth at 2 pm so I can be back by his 3 pm feeding. Well, I asked if I could just hold him during the dose and the nurse happily obliged. He started to squirm, which she said was normal because the antibiotic is cold going in. I didn't think anything of it and Gabe fell asleep eventually. After the antibiotic, the vein is flushed with saline. When the nurse finished, I was going to try and re-swaddle his feet and when I pulled the blanket back, I saw that his calf was swollen where the liquids had pooled.  I immediately told the nurse and she inspected the area, saying that she should have checked the vein prior to and during the dosage. Nice. Later, Gabe was flailing about, had knocked off the diaper on his foot and popped the calf open a little.  So now he not only needs a new port because another vein is blown but his leg has additional healing to do.  This nurse did some other things that I know aren't procedure, like go and tend to Gabe for something and then move to another baby without sanitizing her hands, when I showed up this morning the blanket Gabe was swaddled in had spit up all on it, and she immediately thought he was hungry when he got fussy at 1:30 this afternoon and that the other baby that was screaming at the same time must be hungry, too.  Um, no.  He wasn't hungry because he had eaten at noon.  She had pulled a bottle of 60 cc's of my breast milk out to feed him!  That's a lot of milk and if she had attempted to feed him that, it would have been wasted.  I stepped in and said I'd offer him much less, but that I wanted to keep most of it back (hey, I work hard for that milk and I can't be there for him all the time so he gets bottles and I need him to have a store in the NICU!).

At any rate, it was a rather frustrating day for me.  I'm exhausted and decided that when I came home to play with Madeline and spend some quality time with her this afternoon/early evening that I'm not going to go back tonight.  I need to get some extra sleep, so after I pump at 9 and get the parts cleaned for my night pumping, I'm headed to bed.

But I want to end on a high note:

But this afternoon has been absolutely wonderful!  Spending time with Madeline was needed for EVERYONE.  I have missed my big kid so, so much.  I'm probably imagining it, but she seems bigger and more verbose since I last saw her.  I am soaking in every inch of her...so speaking of Madeline, I'm signing off to spend more time with her before bed, but I'll leave you with some pictures to enjoy.  Pretend I put a caption on them :-) They should be fairly chronological.