Jordan was taken off of the high flow cannula and put onto the low flow cannula. His lungs have been steadily maturing and it shows by the flow of oxygen he is getting. I won’t go into the gory details, but when he was put onto the CPAP he was getting 5 liters of oxygen per minute, now he gets one. They can still turn down the flow on the cannula further, but after they remove the cannula he will breathe room air.
Let me first say that we have never doubted the competence of the hospital or it’s staff. If we felt that any nurse, doctor, or specialist was not capable of caring for Jordan, we’d ask for someone else. That being said, he had 2 nurses of the weekend that made for a rough weekend. First of all is the day nurse. A kind woman overall, but a bit on the conservative side in the way she cares for Jordan. Jordan is supposed to get 37 ml of food when he bottles. He rarely wakes up when he feeds though. Most of the bottling occurs while he sleeps. The day nurse will feed him, and keep feeding him until he stops. Sometimes this happens before the bottle is empty. The night nurse will feed him, but won’t take no for an answer. The baby is to get 37 ml by bottle, and she makes sure he gets it. She will move the bottle around, change nipples, beat him on his back, throw him up in the air – whatever it takes. She gets him to finish his bottle. However, the night nurse doesn’t like when we pick him up to hold him. He is still hooked up to sensors and oxygen and other stuff, but after 3 months I know where everything is and am careful not to break it. Other nurses realize that as new parents we want to pick him up ourselves and care for him as we see fit. The night nurse insists we sit down and she will come over and hand him to us. I want to pick him up. I want the mama Ali to pick him up. We know how to do it. He can handle the stimulation. Back away from the baby – I’ll call you if I need you. You can see the problem I have with both nurses, they don’t care for Jordan the way that I would if I were in charge. I would go to school to become an RN so that the hospital would let me care for him, but it would take more than a couple of months. The baby is healthy, but he needs to be healthy my way.
Finally, we worked on the nursery this weekend. Nothing special happened, but the room is starting to come together. I only mention it because just as I watch Jordan develop, the room is developing too. If everything goes well, they’ll both be ready before too much longer.
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6 comments:
"Back away from the baby." LOL! I love that! Too funny. I understand your frustration, but just know that it will all be over soon and there will come a time when you can't wait to hand Jordan over. :)
It is so nice to read the progression of your rants. No longer are you treading lightly for fear he will not survive; now you are asserting yourselves saying, in effect, "We will decide." This segment could have been entitled, "Back Off ________." Since this is a G rated blog, I will leave it to others, especially my youngest child, to fill in the blank which ends in 'es.'
I remember those days, so frustrating. With Michael there was one nurse that would try everything to help him improve. Other nurses would feed Michael for exactly 30 minutes, if he wasn't done by then, bad luck. That is why he stayed 3 more weeks in the NICU. Is Jordan in a crib? If so, there shouldn't be a problem for you picking him up yourselves, especially since the doctor approved that if I remember correctly.
What happens if you just go for it? I know that "do it first and apologize later" isn't always appropriate, but what can they do?
I wish it were so simple. Most of his feeds come through a tube that leads down his throat and directly into the stomach. The other end of the tube goes through a hole in the top of the isolette and is is attached to a syringe. That syringe is inside a littel machine that slowly squeezes the syringe empty over an hour. I could separate thetube from the syringe, but I don't know how to pause the machine. Either I disconnect the tube to remove Jordan - while his lunch gets squeezed out onto the floor, or I unplug the machine and stop the feeding altogether. The nurses know how to pause the machine, but some of them are unwilling to do it unless there is an emergency.
I am positively giddy! He has an Honest-to-God double chin! Okay, so now he's JJ Vlad if he becomes a fashion designer, Porkchop if he's a comedian. Don't ask me why, just fits.
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