Yesterday was a little busy, so here’s another two day recap. Today is day 19, which is absolutely ridiculous. It feels like forever and no time at all. They moved a couple of babies in this week that are in isolettes and I thought ‘weird that they’d have babies in isolettes over here’ and then remembered my tiny girl was in one just over a week ago. I’ve also seen 5 babies go home over the last week so it’s starting to get a little more empty in here.
Ellie is still doing great. They weighed her again last night and she’s up to 5 lbs 2 oz – so gaining weight every day (which is what they want.) She’s still digesting well, her temp is still good, she’s still good off the caffeine. Her breastfeeding adventure seems to be going well – she actually weighed a little more post feeding last night and this morning (6 and 2 grams respectively) which is encouraging. We have a visit with the lactation consultant this afternoon to make sure she doesn’t have any more tips to make the feeding go better. The Dr. said this morning that we’ll start talking about bottles maybe at the end of the week!
All of this leads me to the title of my post. Yesterday at 330 they approached me about potentially moving Ellie over to the Pediatrics unit (while I was pumping – you really have no shame in this place) because she’s doing so well. They pitched it to me as we’d have our own room, where I’d have things like my own bathroom, a TV, a bed so I could stay with her, privacy – it sounded a little amazing. I said I’d be interested in talking about it.
Then Clark came a little early (4ish) as we had our Discharge Class yesterday. It was basically the infant care class we already took with some preemie specific tips in it (and free cookies – they make some darn good cookies in this place.) When we got back from the Discharge Class at 6, apparently the order had been put in for us to move over to Peds right then….again while I was pumping. So, we started packing up our stuff (even though I hadn’t talked to anyone really about it) and then were told 2 minutes later it would be better if we waited until morning. Ok.
The good thing is that gave us time to actually ask questions about what moving to Peds would mean – where would she stay, where would we stay, do they know how to feed her (she’s still on a tube), would her schedule change, etc. After getting our answers and talking it over, we decided not to make the move over to Peds now, but maybe when she gets closer to discharge. We mainly decided because when we left at night, she would be all alone in her room. She would be hooked up to monitors with nurses watching, but they would be more than the 10 feet away they are now. I couldn’t handle the thought of her in a hospital room all by herself, in the dark, with no one close enough to help her if she’s fussy or needs something unless her monitor beeped at them or she started screaming. I love the idea of some privacy (imagine!) and my own bathroom to use and not having to be let into the NICU to see her and the ability to have somewhere to nap but I can’t leave her ‘alone’ for 12 hours a day (I sort of imagine the sad scene in Lilo and Stitch where Stitch is all by himself – you know what I’m talking about.)
So, we talked to the Doctor again and she understood why we didn’t want to go. We also discussed that when we’re close to going home (maybe a couple days out) we can move over and stay (therefore no loneliness) and then go home!
In a Mom first for the day, I filed Ellie’s fingernails when she was sleeping as she scratched her face a little (she loves grabbing at her face, especially when she’s angry.)
So, enough words, here’s yet another picture of her sleeping in her sleep sack:
She’s looking good!!!