Fertile Hope

It was, indeed, a better day.

Robbie was definitely improved today. He just seemed much more content. He seemed to be struggling to stay awake instead of struggling to stay asleep as he was yesterday. Today he seemed to be trying to take in what was going on around him but just kept nodding off. He only cried once and was easily consoled.

His numbers were good.

My MIL & BIL both came up. David and I had a bit of a moment of contention because I would prefer to limit the people visiting Robbie to pretty much us and maybe our parents (and to be honest, I would limit them, too, but I knew that would upset David.) I specifically told my dad's girlfriend that she couldn't come up today. After the scare from yesterday, I'm just paranoid.

My dad's girlfriend is a smoker and frankly, I don't like her dragging her clothes into the NICU. Not even so much for Robbie who is fairly protected in his isolette, but there are 80 other babies down there. Give me a break.

My BIL is a chewer and smokes----other things. Now I really like my BIL but he's a pot head, plain and simple. And yes, today he was chewing when he got the hospital. It's probably not going to affect anything, but I still just hate all the chemicals floating around him. It's probably oozing out his pores.

Anyway, my MIL visited a little while and other than the fact that she is a little loud for my taste, it was fine. My BIL was there probably not more than 5 minutes. He stood and didn't touch ANYthing, which was fine by me.

I mostly just sat and talked to Robbie. The nurse didn't mention Kangarooing and I didn't bring it up. I think I just prefer to wait until tomorrow and see what his tests show and go from there.

A few things of interest:

-Dr. C came by to say hello. He says he's "not convinced" that Robbie has an infection. Of course, that's the answer I want to hear but I do feel a little bit like I'm caught in a game of ping pong. Yes it is.. no it isn't.. yes it is.. no, it isn't. I told him I was still quite happy that the nurse started him on the antibiotics and he agreed noting that they "have a low threshold" for starting antibiotics. Fine by me.

-I asked Dr. C about Robbie's PDA. I was so consumed by no brain bleeds & the infection/cold stress debate that I'd forgotten to ask about the repeat echo. It's fixed! Woohoo!

-He pooped a little bit all by himself today. The nurse said he had a bit of poop in his diaper earlier. I'm going to guess that he probably didn't get everything that is in there out, but the fact that SOMETHING is happening sounds good to me. (I had actually mentioned the pooping issue to Dr. C earlier and he said "yeah, all our babies have trouble with that.." Poor little constipated babies.)

-They upped his food intake from 2ml to 3ml. Now, his first 3ml feeding, he only digested 1/2 ml, so you know.. it's not all peaches & strawberries, but the fact that they think he can try it seems good to me. He was laying on his back and a little to his right side, so that could affect it, too. When I left he was on his tummy so I'm hoping when I call for my early am report they say he got through a little more.

My mood is greatly improved. Still scared, of course, but I'm a lot better than I was yesterday. Now we just wait to see what happens tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I follow up with my OB about my blood pressure. It's been a little better than it was, but still cruddy. In the 150s over low-mid 90's. But I have had one or two that were lower, so we'll see what she says.

That's it for us for now. Keep praying things continue to improve.


--Trish