HOME SWEET HOME
Over the last few days, Arden has decided to be particular abou what she eats. Now she is still far from a finicky eater (her only 2 real dislikes are mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs). She is just testing us. But one thing she doesn't realize yet is mommy always wins. So today, at lunch when she wanted to eat only apple and not her vegetables I suddenly had a moment of deja vu, if such a thing actually exists.
Last year at this very moment I was sitting in NICU trying to coax my sweet 2 week old baby to eat. And then burp. Challenging would be an understatement. She hadn't burped but a handful of times since her arrival. This had caused some minor(minor in the professionals' eyes) issues. Because she didn't burp, she felt full. She would then not eat. At day 7 they put in a feeding tube which allowed them to "suck the air" out as an alternative to burping. They also would do every other feeding through this tiny little tube. Add to our list of challenges, that she didn't tolerate the higher calorie "preemie" formula....it makes trying to coax a one year old to eat her veggies like a walk in the park. We also only had 30 minutes to accomplish all of this. Anything longer is actually counterproductive because preemies burn more calories than they take in.
I had done her 11am feeding without a burp and then spent the last few hours having a little mommy/daughter cuddle. I was now getting ready to leave. (I would go for a 3 or 4 hour visit in the morning, go home for lunch and a nap, and then Art and I would go up when he got home from work for a few more hours.) As I placed her back into her little bed, I proceeded to swaddle her like we had been taught. She let out a tiny little cry which wasn't uncommon. Then as I looked in my hand I realized why she had squealed. I was holding her feeding tube. Apparently, in all the mess of wire and blanket, I had managed to pull it out. Oops! I told the nurse and she chuckled and said, "we had to change it today anyway". And I headed home.
That night Art and I headed back up. We always tried to be there for at least one feeding at in the morning and one in the evening. (She would eat every 3 hours....8, 11, 2, 5, 8 and so on). We arrived shortly after her 5pm feeding to find her nurse beaming from ear to ear. Arden had burped!!! (Like a trucker, her words, not mine) The same thing happend at her 8pmfeeding, then her 11.... That silly feeding tube never went back in after I pulled it out. That my friends, is the power of prayer.
The next day she went into her "big girl" bed (an open bed instead of the closed little box with holes in the side). That left just two hurdles to get over before she would be released from "baby jail". The first was to reach 4lbs. She was 4lbs, 1oz at birth, but between losing the normal weight a baby loses and the feeding challenges she had dropped at one point to 3lbs, 9oz. She had just a few more ounces to go. The final test was her carseat test. I was so happy when they told me to bring it with me on Thursday.
*The carseat test is done for any baby born before 37 weeks. It's to make sure that the seat fits baby properly.
Thursday rolled around and I lugged that thing through the hospital. (Thank goodness for valet parking). That was a workout, I tell ya! After 5 weeks on bedrest and a c-section, I was not as strong as I once was. (That's a whole other post). I was just glad that I didn't have to carry it back out.
Friday they did her carseat test and she passed with flying colors! (BTW, if you need a carseat that works fantastic for preemie and beyond, check out Urbini. All the nurses raved about it and said that it was the best preemie seat they've seen in a long time). And when she weighed in that morning, she was at 3lbs, 14.7oz. We were soooo close. When they said it was more than likely she would be going home with us on Saturday, I wanted to jump up and down. (Not advised two weeks after a c-section). As long as her weight was good and the doctor on Saturday gave the ok, she was free to go.
Art and I actually skipped our Friday nightvisit so we could get everyting ready. In typical fashion, we went out in a mad dash looking for a rocking chair. We stil don't own a rocking chair. Thankfully, we have a little one who doesn't require motion for comfort.
Saturday rolled around. I don't know if either of us had slept. We were super excited, but still not 100% sure she would come home today. We arrived at the hospital and heard those words we had longed to hear..."she's going home today!!" That was Saturday, January 10. Our baby girl was 18 days old and weighed in at a whopping 4lbs, 3oz.
And though she be but little, she is fierce~William Shakespeare
Last year at this very moment I was sitting in NICU trying to coax my sweet 2 week old baby to eat. And then burp. Challenging would be an understatement. She hadn't burped but a handful of times since her arrival. This had caused some minor(minor in the professionals' eyes) issues. Because she didn't burp, she felt full. She would then not eat. At day 7 they put in a feeding tube which allowed them to "suck the air" out as an alternative to burping. They also would do every other feeding through this tiny little tube. Add to our list of challenges, that she didn't tolerate the higher calorie "preemie" formula....it makes trying to coax a one year old to eat her veggies like a walk in the park. We also only had 30 minutes to accomplish all of this. Anything longer is actually counterproductive because preemies burn more calories than they take in.
I had done her 11am feeding without a burp and then spent the last few hours having a little mommy/daughter cuddle. I was now getting ready to leave. (I would go for a 3 or 4 hour visit in the morning, go home for lunch and a nap, and then Art and I would go up when he got home from work for a few more hours.) As I placed her back into her little bed, I proceeded to swaddle her like we had been taught. She let out a tiny little cry which wasn't uncommon. Then as I looked in my hand I realized why she had squealed. I was holding her feeding tube. Apparently, in all the mess of wire and blanket, I had managed to pull it out. Oops! I told the nurse and she chuckled and said, "we had to change it today anyway". And I headed home.
That night Art and I headed back up. We always tried to be there for at least one feeding at in the morning and one in the evening. (She would eat every 3 hours....8, 11, 2, 5, 8 and so on). We arrived shortly after her 5pm feeding to find her nurse beaming from ear to ear. Arden had burped!!! (Like a trucker, her words, not mine) The same thing happend at her 8pmfeeding, then her 11.... That silly feeding tube never went back in after I pulled it out. That my friends, is the power of prayer.
The next day she went into her "big girl" bed (an open bed instead of the closed little box with holes in the side). That left just two hurdles to get over before she would be released from "baby jail". The first was to reach 4lbs. She was 4lbs, 1oz at birth, but between losing the normal weight a baby loses and the feeding challenges she had dropped at one point to 3lbs, 9oz. She had just a few more ounces to go. The final test was her carseat test. I was so happy when they told me to bring it with me on Thursday.
*The carseat test is done for any baby born before 37 weeks. It's to make sure that the seat fits baby properly.
Thursday rolled around and I lugged that thing through the hospital. (Thank goodness for valet parking). That was a workout, I tell ya! After 5 weeks on bedrest and a c-section, I was not as strong as I once was. (That's a whole other post). I was just glad that I didn't have to carry it back out.
Friday they did her carseat test and she passed with flying colors! (BTW, if you need a carseat that works fantastic for preemie and beyond, check out Urbini. All the nurses raved about it and said that it was the best preemie seat they've seen in a long time). And when she weighed in that morning, she was at 3lbs, 14.7oz. We were soooo close. When they said it was more than likely she would be going home with us on Saturday, I wanted to jump up and down. (Not advised two weeks after a c-section). As long as her weight was good and the doctor on Saturday gave the ok, she was free to go.
Art and I actually skipped our Friday nightvisit so we could get everyting ready. In typical fashion, we went out in a mad dash looking for a rocking chair. We stil don't own a rocking chair. Thankfully, we have a little one who doesn't require motion for comfort.
Saturday rolled around. I don't know if either of us had slept. We were super excited, but still not 100% sure she would come home today. We arrived at the hospital and heard those words we had longed to hear..."she's going home today!!" That was Saturday, January 10. Our baby girl was 18 days old and weighed in at a whopping 4lbs, 3oz.
And though she be but little, she is fierce~William Shakespeare