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Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Random thoughts
It's been a rather busy week so far and it's not over yet.
Monday I had to take the lowercase to have his eye exam. We got mixed news. He has no ROP in his right eye. His left eye, however, is still immature. This means we have to go back and have his eyes dilated and checked in a month. Thankfully they will only dilate the left eye.
Today he had to get his Synagis shot (for those who don't know, this is the medication to help lessen the severity of RSV should he come in contact with it).
My poor little man was VERY upset with the shot. Afterwards, we bumped into the family who were one bed over from us in the NICU. Their son came home on apnea/brady monitors and was being seen at the pulmonary clinic one waiting room over. We talked to them for several minutes before walking across the hospital to the NICU.
We got to visit with three of the nurses that my son had as well as one of the lactation consultants. It was really nice to see them. Strange how you miss things like that.
While I was pregnant, I went to the same doctor as a woman carrying triplets. She was infertile and twelve years ago underwent IVF. She carried triplets that time as well. Twelve years ago she went into labor at 24 1/2 weeks and delivered two girls and a boy. The boy was the sole survivor and he has some developmental issues (I believe he has CP and also is prone to seizures). They told me they swore they would never do it again, but then, 12 years later they did. And she carried triplets, two boys and a girl, to 24 1/2 weeks when she went into labor. (They said she carried the exact amount of time to the hour both times). I had been wondering about them and today found out that there is only one baby left in the NICU. Now, of their three, one was really sick, one was having some preemie issues and the third was a superstar. I plan to go to their online baby registry and send a little something to their house just to let them know I'm thinking of them.
My little man weighed in at 6 lb 13.5 oz today. I couldn't believe it. He's getting to be so big!
I'm still attempting the breastfeeding thing. To be honest, it's going better than it was. He is more consistent with solid mature suckling. He nurses using the largest nipple shield (the theory being that the larger shield makes him open wider and will thus allow him to take in more breast tissue when we make the transition away from the shield) for 30-45 minutes at every day time feeding followed by a bottle of either breastmilk or formula. After nursing, he takes only about 1 to 1 1/2 oz (30 - 60 ml). If he takes a bottle only, as we do during the nighttime feedings, he takes about 2 - 3 1/2 oz. He is consistently gaining weight and is in good health all around. I feel more at peace with things right now. My lactation consultant feels good about things. We decided today that we would let him have until Monday to get even better at nursing and we will talk then. At that point, we will start planning how to work him away from the shield all together.
I'm on my last full-dose day of Reglan, the medication that is helping me produce milk at a great enough volume for him. Tomorrow and Friday are "weaning" days from that. I'm terrified that by Saturday I will be producing nothing. To prevent that from happening, I plan to pump like a fiend. I'm currently pumping five times a day (after every daytime feeding but not the 3 night feedings) and am getting a total of 3 oz per day. Since this is in addition to the amount he takes directly from me, that's a bit over a half-ounce extra per feeding. Not great, but satisfactory and it does indicate that I'm producing enough for his needs right now. Monday at noon I have an appointment with a new OB/GYN and will hit her up for a new prescription -- preferrably one that will continue until I give up on nursing my son.
Speaking of...I hear a little man crying for me.
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