Good day

It was a better day again.

Robbie's blood sugar was still down. And they took him off the antibiotics- his cultures were clear!

They increased his food again. He's up to 3.5ml/2 hours now. It excites me that he's eating well. I'm not sure anyone has ever wanted to fatten a baby up any more.

Dr. D came by and said they're tinkering with his caffeine a bit to try to optimize it, then in a day or two, they're going to try to pull him off the vent again.

I know coming off the vent is a GOOD thing, but it makes me nervous. It's so hard to see him struggle. He gets so tired and just looks haggard. No baby should have to look haggard, especially not one who has been through as much as Robbie. If only I could do it for him.

I got to hold him today for 2 hours. There are no pictures. I forgot to get my camera out before we got settled and I was by myself. Just trust me that it was awesome.

I was nervous about him getting cold, but his nurse said it was fine. I wore a hospital gown (I have to find a decent button down shirt somewhere) and then she covered him with 2 blankets from the warmer, then the big, thick blanket that my friends gave me the other day. I kept my hand on his back (of course, it covers most of his body) the whole time as well. She took his temperature about 30 minutes into it and he was nice and toasty. Even as she dug his arm out she said "oh... he's WARM."

I was laying back in the recliner just chatting quietly with the grandma of the littler girl to the left of Robbie when I suddenly felt warm......and wet.

Yes. My son peed on me. I have my christened. I was talking when I said "Annnnd.. I think I just got peed on." Everyone froze. I said "yep. Pretty sure that was pee." The nurse said he probably wiggled out of diaper, then got me a rag. She tried to get under the blankets to wipe me up a bit and of course, the movement made the pee run around to my back. I was soaked. Of course, I said out loud again "...and there it goes down my back..alrighty..." and everyone started to giggle. I was trying really hard not to giggle so as not to disturb Robbie but finally it got us all. This is definitely going in the baby book.

In the end, I held him 2 hours. When she got him back into his isolette, he was about .3 of a degree WARMER than when he came out. Success!

The nurse told me I should insist on holding him every day. If the nurses don't offer- ask. Yes ma'am.

We all decided that Robbie has a little somethin' goin' on with the girl to his left (Elizabeth) because they'd both be fine and quiet but when they'd alarm, they'd do it together. The nurse told them to stop with the morse code. It really did seem that way all day. I figure it's payback for all the heel sticks and disturbing him when he's comfy. she did some of his cares while I was holding him and made him SUPER mad. Fortunately he calms down quickly but it's amazing how you can tell he's screaming even though he can't make any noise because of the vent. He definitely knows how to express his displeasure.

In other good news, I had a follow up with my OB today. It was mainly a BP check and of course, she looked at my incision as well. Both are greatly improved. My BP was actually 120/80 when I was there. I nearly fell over. It's been a bit higher than that at home, but the fact that it's trending that way is good. And in a bit that actually stunned me- I've lost 27 pounds. That's in 11 days. I only gained a net of about 10 during my pregnancy. I guess I had a lot more swelling that we realized. As it happens, I'm now something like 16 pounds lighter than when I got pregnant. Woah.

All in all, it was a very good day. I was beyond exhausted by the time I got home. Came in and David was baking a lasagna that a friend made for us. I ate a piece, made Robbie some dinner and then passed out. I slept 3 hours. It felt like 10 for as good as it felt.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to run some errands. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get done w/o wearing out, but I'm going to try. I want to cancel some things (gym membership etc) so save some money and one of the other gifts my friends brought the other day was a gift certificate to the bra specialty place. I'm going to get a couple of nursing bras.

Baby pee and nursing bras. It's like I'm a mom or something. Totally cool.

--Trish