Nicholas in NICU Update #8

This morning Alex and I were able to go visit Nick together, and Alex got to hold him for the first time! I guess it's possible Alex may have held him after he was first born, but I have little to no recollection of those hours.

Nick wasn't incredibly awake this morning, so we didn't get much in the way of breastfeeding practice. His nurse the night before had put him into a tiny sleeper outfit, and it was amazing how much more like a baby he looked than when he was just being swaddled in a diaper and hospital blankets.

He's a natural at holding beautiful baby boys!

Awwwww :)

This afternoon Nicholas was awake and very alert! We tried breastfeeding, but he was only minimally interested. He seemed to want to look at me and the rest of his room more than trying to latch on. His nurse assured me that this is normal for babies his age, as is his getting tired easily after feeding orally for relatively short periods of time. After a while I tried giving him a bottle, and that was received the same way. Finally we gave up and his nurse gave him the rest of his feeding through the NG tube that was placed last night (a small, flexible tube from his nose to his stomach). I held him for a long while, and finally gave him back to his nurse so I could pump and head home before it got late.

Other than wearing clothes, there were only two changes for Nick today. First, the neonatologist on duty ordered that his feedings get increased to 35 cc's from 30. He expressed some concern that trying to nipple feed (bottle or breast) every other feed may be too exhausting for him, so they have decided to reduced the number of nipple feeds to 3 a day. The rest of the feedings (still every 3 hours) will be by an NG tube.

The second change happened this evening, during shift change. Nick was moved from Bay 1 to Bay 5! As it was explained to us, babies will move through the Bays from 1 to 7, with Bay 7 being the last before going home. They often skip several Bays at a time, the destination decision being made based on staffing and the number of babies at a particular level of need. He is no longer in his own isolation room with a great view of West Austin, but he doesn't need that any more, so I'm not complaining.
He was wearing this little hat when I got there yesterday afternoon, and although we don't know who actually made it (nurse said they get donations like this all the time), it's exactly the kind of thing my grandmother, Murner, would have created. So I've decided to imagine that she made it for him. :)