NICU

WARNING: this post probably doesn’t flow…i kind of just typed as I thought of things so it probably doesn’t make much sense.  SORRY!

Campbell spent 5 days (Thursday-Monday) in the NICU.  His breathing got better quickly.  He did go under the bili light just because he was already in the NICU and his numbers had gone up a little.  He had FOUR IV’s throughout his stay…in fact, Saturday night (actually Sun morning) at 3 AM, I woke up to a baby screaming.  Our room was right across the door to the NICU.  I woke Matt up because I just knew it was Campbell.  Matt tried to convince me that it was probably the baby that was next door rooming in but I knew better.  I made him get up and go make sure Campbell was ok.  And, I was right.  Campbell’s 3rd IV had fallen out of his hand so they were trying to put one in his foot.  OH MY WORD…I listened to him scream for 30 minutes.  It was one of the saddest things to listen to your baby cry when you can’t comfort him.  Anyway, Campbell slowly but surely got better…lowered oxygen, finished fluids and antibiotics, got off the bili light, etc.  The only thing he had a little trouble with was feeding.  He gagged really easily.  It was funny because there were several times that I told Matt and Liz that Campbell seemed like he was younger than he really was…AND, I had a nurse tell me the same exact thing.  Campbell was born at 38 weeks but she said he was acting more like a 36 weeker.   However, we KNOW without a doubt when his little life started since we have to have an IUI to get pregnant.  Campbell acted very fickle while he was in the hospital.  I wanted to nurse him but my milk hadn’t really come in and they wanted to make sure he was getting the nutrients he needed so we had to give him a bottle…one minute he would like one kind of nipple, the next he would want a different kind.  THEN, he would go for a spurt where he LOVED nursing and didn’t want a bottle.  He finally caught on to things.  However, he didn’t start really nursing until about a week ago.  I had to pump to keep my milk up during that first week…OH HOW I DID NOT WANT TO PUMP…well, now it’s become somewhat of an obsession.  I am nursing Campbell..no bottles…AND I’m pumping some for relief.  I get an average of 35 ounces from pumping.  WHAT????  I think God gave me enough milk for twins (during both pregnancies). 

Below: Trigger did this same thing when he was in the NICU…he always had his wires tangled in his toes! Campbell’s first bottle.

And Campbell loves his paci just like his big brother.

After Campbell finally got taken off the oxygen, his poor little face was so irritated from all the tape. Look at his red marks.

And because we have a million pictures of Trigger under the bili light, we had to take some of Campbell.

One more thing that we encountered during our hospital stay:  heart murmur.  We were not told this until Monday (our discharge day).  They had heard his murmur since he’d been born.  They decided to do an xray, echo, and EKG.  All looked okay but they still felt like we needed to take Campbell to see Dr. King (pediatric cardiologists).  On a side note, do you remember that Dr. King is Trigger’s doctor too (for PPS-peripheral pulmonary stenosis and something else with initials that I can’t remember right this moment).  Matt called that Monday to check on Trigger’s report from his last appt.  All was good and they had cleared him to be released.  YAY…but now we have another reason to visit the good doctor!  HOWEVER, last week I received a phone call from Dr. King’s office.  Liz answered the phone and handed it to me.  In my head, I assumed that it was to confirm Campbell’s appointment when the nurse started going on and on about “Cole’s” (Trigger) last appointment.  She said something about Dr. King taking his file to let his New Orleans colleagues look it and something about an artery being narrow.  My head was spinning!  So I got off the phone, called Matt, and made him call back to get a report.  Anyway, Trigger is no longer being released.  After our appointment, and further review of the tests by Dr. King, he noticed a slight narrowing of the artery between Trigger’s heart and lungs…his two holes have closed up.   So now both of our babies are patients of Dr. King!

That’s all for now…I have been working on this post off and on for two days so who knows what it says and i’m not going back to read it. :)

I still have to post a few pictures from our last day…the LONGEST day!!!  I’ll try tomorrow.