Over the past few days the doctors/nurses have wanted Sara to breastfeed at every opportunity. I believe this has to do with Julia improving her numbers with breastfeeding while not at all with a bottle. In order for Julia to go home she must eat a certain amount over a 12 hour period and essentially her only chance is to breastfeed at every feeding, because she can't drink enough with a bottle. So we think the doctors and nurses are trying their best to get Julia home and the only way to do it is for Sara to breastfeed all the time. Obviously this is putting a lot of strain on Sara, because she always needs to be at the hospital. She comes home for 2 hours sometimes during the day, but its not a lot of time to spend with anyone (Kathy, me or the boys). However, we all recognize that if this is what it takes for Julia to come home then this is what we are going to do.
Julia's ng tube was pulled today. It was the day to change it and they are giving her a chance to not get it put back in. She has to eat 300 ml (10 oz) over a 12 hour period, previously she was given the chance to eat and then tube fed the rest of her milk for a total of 360 ml (12 oz) during a 12 hour period. She passed her first 12 hour period with 305 ml. She had one feeding session today where she ate 88 ml (almost 3 oz)!!! If she doesn't hit the 300 mark, then most likely she will get the ng tube put back in. It does have some variability in that if she is close to 300, they might let her slide, or even if she is less, but still gains weight for the day, they might let her go. They are also watching her for consistency over the 12 hour time frame that she is eating roughly the same amount throughout the day.
They have talked to us about her going home and we have started doing some of the steps that need to be done first- mostly just watching videos. We have to watch a CPR video and demonstrate that we can preform CPR if necessary. Julia will have to sit in her carseat for 1 hour to show that she doesn't have any breathing issues while in the seat. It looks like she will be going home with an apnea monitor (it will monitor her heart rate and respiratory rate (how many breaths per minute she takes)). Right now, they are thinking they would keep her on that for probably 3-6 months. Their concern is that the size of her tongue could cause issues with her breathing.
She has to have the ng tube out for 48 hours before being able to be discharged (and be eating enough) so in theory, if she hits her 300 mark through Monday, we could potentially be bringing her home Monday. We are hopeful that this might be the case, but also know that things change pretty quickly around here. She also has to have some more blood work done before she could leave and possibly a few other tests, plus getting everything set up with the monitor. Unfortunately for Eric, he has a conference in Chicago on Monday so if she comes home that day, he'll miss it, but we both agree that if they tell us she can go home, we are taking her then. :)
In other news from today, Julia got her newborn pictures taken at the hospital. We haven't got a chance to really look through and make any decisions, but I'm guessing we'll be ordering some of them. We are anxious to get her home and get some family pictures taken. Kathy got to our house around 10:00 this morning and she came up to the hospital to meet Julia shortly after that. At the 11:00 feeding, Sara and Kathy found out that her tube had been pulled so they came home for a quick lunch and to pack up a few things, then Sara and I headed up to the hospital so that Sara could feed Julia as much as Julia wants.
The boys have gotten pretty used to being left with people, but I think we are all ready for our whole family to be in one house. Kathy took the boys to McDonalds for supper tonight which I am sure they enjoyed. She dropped Oliver off at the hospital afterward so he could come up and see Julia. He did really well and seems to be pretty excited about her. He got to see the room Eric and I are staying in tonight. He wanted to play with Julia and her toys :) Parker was a little sad to not get out of the car when Oliver got out, but him and Kathy went to Walgreens and they looked at the toys and Parker pointed out every Thomas toy they had.
Kathy picked Oliver up and headed home with the boys and Eric and I stayed up at the hospital. We are really hoping Julia eats well tonight. So far she is at 91 ml out of 300- we have 8 more hours to get another 209 ml in her.
They have talked to us about her going home and we have started doing some of the steps that need to be done first- mostly just watching videos. We have to watch a CPR video and demonstrate that we can preform CPR if necessary. Julia will have to sit in her carseat for 1 hour to show that she doesn't have any breathing issues while in the seat. It looks like she will be going home with an apnea monitor (it will monitor her heart rate and respiratory rate (how many breaths per minute she takes)). Right now, they are thinking they would keep her on that for probably 3-6 months. Their concern is that the size of her tongue could cause issues with her breathing.
She has to have the ng tube out for 48 hours before being able to be discharged (and be eating enough) so in theory, if she hits her 300 mark through Monday, we could potentially be bringing her home Monday. We are hopeful that this might be the case, but also know that things change pretty quickly around here. She also has to have some more blood work done before she could leave and possibly a few other tests, plus getting everything set up with the monitor. Unfortunately for Eric, he has a conference in Chicago on Monday so if she comes home that day, he'll miss it, but we both agree that if they tell us she can go home, we are taking her then. :)
In other news from today, Julia got her newborn pictures taken at the hospital. We haven't got a chance to really look through and make any decisions, but I'm guessing we'll be ordering some of them. We are anxious to get her home and get some family pictures taken. Kathy got to our house around 10:00 this morning and she came up to the hospital to meet Julia shortly after that. At the 11:00 feeding, Sara and Kathy found out that her tube had been pulled so they came home for a quick lunch and to pack up a few things, then Sara and I headed up to the hospital so that Sara could feed Julia as much as Julia wants.
The boys have gotten pretty used to being left with people, but I think we are all ready for our whole family to be in one house. Kathy took the boys to McDonalds for supper tonight which I am sure they enjoyed. She dropped Oliver off at the hospital afterward so he could come up and see Julia. He did really well and seems to be pretty excited about her. He got to see the room Eric and I are staying in tonight. He wanted to play with Julia and her toys :) Parker was a little sad to not get out of the car when Oliver got out, but him and Kathy went to Walgreens and they looked at the toys and Parker pointed out every Thomas toy they had.
Kathy picked Oliver up and headed home with the boys and Eric and I stayed up at the hospital. We are really hoping Julia eats well tonight. So far she is at 91 ml out of 300- we have 8 more hours to get another 209 ml in her.
What was that sound?
Just lounging around
Happy that she lost her NG tube
We'll be anxiously waiting to read how the numbers all play out through Monday. Seems like a lot is happening to make it possible to bring her home. Yeah!! Try to stay saine and awake.
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