Miles’ NICU week – Wednesday & Thursday

Wednesday morning when the doctor’s did their rounds we got some more news about what would keep Miles here for at least another day.  On top of the meconium, cleft palate, and jaundice he was also dealing with ABO incompatibility.  His blood type and mine were fighting each other and combined with his high bilirubin count, he was having a hard time flushing my blood out of his system.  This would just take time, breastfeeding, and lots of peeing and pooping to resolve itself.  If it got worse, there were 1 or 2 meds he would have to have.

This is a picture of our little world for the week.  We actually had one of the best little spots there.  We were tucked in the back away from lots of other babies and had a window.  It was easy to pump and nurse and not feel like we were in the middle of everything.
Our view out the window. Wednesday was mostly spent looking at my sweet boy like this.  They let me demand feed him whenever he got restless.  We would nurse and snuggle and then he’d get furious as we put the mask back on and he went back under the lights. One thing that I actually thanked God a lot for was this little week of time with just Miles and me.  I got to snuggle and sit and stare at him for almost a whole week with no other children asking for my attention.  When does that ever happen with kid #3?! This day, I proudly wore the necklace I bought for myself got for Mother’s Day.  I was discharged Wednesday at 4:12.  They had let me stay the extra day just to try and help with me not having to figure out how to get to and from the NICU.  Wednesday night (and Thursday), I ran home for dinner, see Owen and Ellie, and help with bath and bedtimes.  Then I ran back to the NICU until a feeding around 11:30.  Then I headed home to sleep/pump.  I’m not quite sure how mom’s do it when their babies are in the NICU for a long period of time.  So much respect for them!
I arrived back at the NICU around 8 on Thursday morning.  I was so excited when his nurse told me that this was his last session under the lights!YAY for being one step closer to breaking free.  We were praying it would be the day we got to go home.  The doctors came around once in the morning around 10 and once in the evening around 9 to do rounds.  It was neat to see several doctors, nurses, dieticians, and specialists work together and make decisions on each baby everyday.  Dr. Stratton said he still needed to see his bili numbers be stable for 24 hours and see his ABO incompatibility numbers come down some more.  Disappointing but getting closer! Thursday was just a quiet day of nursing and cuddling.  That afternoon, Miles was finally transferred to a crib!  A volunteer made tons of little “name plates” and the nurses add the names and attach one to each baby’s area.  When she attached his, I had to share with her how much Owen loves cows and how perfect it was that she had picked that one. That night I went home a bit earlier (around 10) because I had finally started pumping enough milk to get him through 3 feedings.  And he finally got to wear some real jammies to bed!