Day 10 - Erin Eats for the First Time!!!

It has been an eventful 24 hours since our last blog update. Picking up where we left off yesterday, I spent an hour holding Erin after lunch yesterday. That included a 30 minute nap for both of us. I didn't know how much holding your baby could enhance the quality of your nap, but it did!

Later in the afternoon, we had to leave the ward as they needed to do surgery on one of the preemies. These babies are sometimes to fragile that they can't be moved to the OR, and so the OR comes to them, necessitating our vacating the ward. We were told we had a two hour window, and so we elected to go home in the afternoon for the first time in 10 days. Sheila spent her time getting a well rested nap, and I went for a run.

After dinner, Erin had her new IV line put in. It is really nerve wracking to watch, but she did pretty well with the help of her drug of choice, Sweeties. She still wasn't asleep when we left at 10, but seemed on her way.

Overnight, she had a very good night, sleeping most of the time. It was a pretty stressful night, as we were worried that her stats might begin to deteriorate. Her nitric oxide was reduced from .20 to .15, and then .10, and she seemed to tolerate that pretty well. If she was still doing well in the am, then the question of food would be seriously addressed.

I called during the night and was really relieved to find that she was having a good night, and that her oxygen sat levels were still good. She slept most of the night. We arrived to find that good status continuing. New nurse Beth was very helpful, and immediately gave her to Sheila to hold. Erin seemed alert and good, and all was fine. But when Sheila went to pump and I sat down to hold Erin, she seemed to get a major hunger pang. She was really inconsolable, crying constantly to the point that she was turning blue. Cardiologist Jeff came by to see her and to let me know that while her stats were reasonable, they weren't anything to write home about. Nevertheless, he was willing to allow her to eat on the idea that if she needs surgery it as least isn't imminent. He put her chances at not needing surgery now at 30-70 or maybe even 20-80, but cautioned me that within that 20 - 30%, there is a lot of room for her to deteriorate. Being Chicago, I told him there was a $20 in it if he gave in and let her eat, which he got a kick out of. The decision was made that she could have a 10 ml (1/3 of an ounce) of Mommy milk every three hours.

It couldn't have come soon enough, as poor Erin wouldn't calm down. Sheila arrived just in time from her pumping to take over holding Erin just as the bottle was finished. I really wanted Sheila to be the one to feed her for the first time. After all, she is the one who has really done all of the hard work in having Erin. To say we were extremely concerned over Erin's ability to take the bottle would not be an overstatement. Babies who don't eat right away have great difficulties coordinating the sucking and swallowing movements, and often need a feeding tube until speech therapy helps them learn. In some cases, this can take a great deal of time. In other cases, they can develop an oral aversion and really a dislike for food.

Once again, Erin proved to be the exception to the rule (editors note - there is no bias whatsoever in the opinions expressed by the author as to the vast superiority of Erin over other babies) and ate like she had been doing so for years. We were so thrilled! When she was done, she was happy and wide awake, and probably the most alert she has been thus far.

As Jeff said, baby steps, but they seem pretty giant to us.