Mission accomplished...

I got to hold Nora today skin to skin Kangaroo Care for at least 30 minutes and Nora did great, great, great the entire time with no major alarms and only two quick minor dstats which she came back up on her own quickly. And, they reintroduced breast milk which Nora tolerated well.

Yeah!!

Granted, a very busy respiratory therapist who wasn't supposed to be working today and was covering all of rooms B, C, and D had to be there for the hold and she did her best, but didn't quite succeed in masking her difficulty sitting there when she probably had 5 million other things she needed to do. That's okay though. I didn't let it deter from my experience and I made sure to thank her several times and let her know how much I appreciated finally getting to really hold my baby. I got to hold Nora today. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I held Nora today. We both loved it. I swear she smiled at me as she nestled in and fell into a nice sleep. At least that's my story and I'm sticking with it. I also promised her that I wouldn't allow her brothers to call her "snora nora" when she grew up along with telling her how great she is doing, and how much I loved her, and other sweet nothings.

And, the doctor agreed to add back in breast milk every 4th feeding, so basically twice a day. She had the first one for dinner tonight and I just called and the night nurse said she tolerated it well. Probably doesn't make any difference for this infection thing, but it makes me a feel a lot better that she'll be getting at least some of my antibodies to help her compromised immune system. Plus, I have a stock pile of frozen milk both at the hospital and in the freezer at home and am running out of space. Nora's up to 24 cc's every 3 hours fed via pump over 2 hours. She weighed about 3 lbs 5 oz today.

It was terrific that I happened to be there when the doc examined her so was able to get the okay on both the holding and the breast milk. Also, the pic line (sp?) is getting removed tonight and they will add an IV line (the nurse called it something different, but can't remember the exact name) to just feed her antibiotics. She doesn't need the extra fluid and nutrients from the other line since she's getting enough from the formula (and now breast milk :). Nora's heart rate is still a bit high, but in the low to mid 170's instead of the mid to high 180's with even some drops into the 160 range. She's looking better. Still not 100%, but looks to me anyway that she's on the mend.

Ray continues to do well. No major alarms, but a fair amount of dstats when he is eating (whether I am holding him or not at the time). I held him for most of a feeding session today, but put him down to go spend time and hold his sis towards the end. He was very alert when I first started holding him and kept looking at me like he couldn't believe his eyes. He looked like he was rooting a bit and opened his mouth nice and wide so was on the nipple for a bit. His nurse came to check on him after one dstat that lasted a bit longer than the other and saw this (and blamed his dstats on this even though I knew/know it was not related) and told me when he dstat'd to take it out so he could breath. So, next dstat, I did and he started to fuss and I told him not to blame me I was only following instructions and the nurse laughed. Actually, I was going to take him off anyway and just have him use the boob cushion as a pillow cause I don't want to wear him out and he's not really ready to actually breast feed. I just want to get him familiar with the lay of the land and have him comfortable with it all for when he is ready in a few weeks. A few hours later when he was well into his next feed after having been out of the room with Nora and then to pump, I subtly pointed out to her that the dstat's related to him eating and that they get more frequent towards the end. She went back to look and ... by George...I was right. To bad they change nurses so often as I had just had the weekend nurse on the same page with me on that and had to do it all over. I really wouldn't care much except that most nurses tend to think that Ray is getting stressed because I'm holding him while he eats and would rather I not and I would rather I do so I can get my subtle early nipple training in. Ray is up to 28 cc's of breast milk a day every 3 hours via pump over 1.5 hours.

BTW, dstat stand for desaturation. The babies where a sensor on their foot that picks up the oxygen level in the blood, when the monitor thinks the oxygen level is falling the "dstat" alarm goes off. But, if Ray stretches or squirms, it goes off. I'm not really sure why Ray tends to dstat when eating, especially towards the end when his stomach is full, but it is a pattern. I think I'll ask on that tomorrow.

All in all, today was a good day. I went with Max to pre-school which he continues to love and feel like I was able to spend some good quality time with both babes. And, I got the changes I wanted for Nora with the okay to hold her and re introduce momma's milk. But, boy, am I tired. Max was up again twice last night. Neither for long, but just enough. And, the last one at 4 am which had me up to pump, call and check on the babes and other such activities, but at least Max went easily back to sleep. The day, like most, are long...but all worth it and overall good.