Another great day in the NICU. This morning, Joshua was awake and alert for the longest block of time I've ever seen, about 7:45-10:00. At 8:00 we had another great breastfeeding session, but not quite as incredible as yesterday. He slept through the 11:00 feeding, and at 2:00 he was awake but more interested in using me as a pacifier than actively working for his food, so he has been getting most of his feeds through the NG tube.
I just called his nurse, and he lost 10 grams tonight, down to 1920 g or 4 lbs 3 oz. :( I don't know what's up with him not gaining weight. He just seemed to blow right through the 3 lbs range, and now he's stuck at 4 lbs. Prayers have helped tremendously in the past, so if you have it in your heart to offer even more prayers for the Bales family, please pray for Joshua to grow. Thank you so much!
I asked the doctor if she has any inkling on when we'd be ready to go home, and after a lot of deliberation, her answer was one to three weeks. It's nice to start seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
There are over 50 NICU beds in our hospital, and they are usually full. It's a regional center, so babies are sent here from all over the state. The NICU is set up in pods, with six babies in each pod. We each have our own rooms (only three of the six have windows, and we're thankful we have one with a window). There are no doors, just curtains, so we can see and hear what's going on with the other babies, and there are a lot of interesting stories. Joshua's neighboring room seems to be a revolving door. There have been six babies in and out since we arrived, and the newest neighbor is due to go home tomorrow after arriving by helicopter yesterday. I heard the nurses give report on him, and I was so intrigued by his story that I went and introduced myself to his mom today and got her to open up to me to share her story. Get this:
Yesterday, she had really bad abdominal pain, which she thought was an ulcer, and it got so bad that she went to the ER. An hour later, she gave birth to a baby, and she had no clue she was pregnant. She had taken two home pregnancy tests over the past several months, and they were both negative. She thought she had a tumor since her abdomen was hard, but she never went to a doctor because she was sure she would need surgery, which scared her to death. She never got around to getting it checked out. She didn't notice if she gained any weight, and she wore her normal clothes the whole time. I asked her if she ever felt the baby move, but she said she just thought it was her ulcer acting up. This was her third pregnancy, and she's in her 30's. She's very tall and has a large frame, but she is not at all obese. It was fascinating talking to her, seeing how powerful the mind is when you're in denial.
My first thought with all this was "that poor ER doctor." She went to a small town ER 2.5 hours away from here, and they didn't have labor & delivery or any specialists, just the dr in the ER. Hmmm, frighteningly similar to the ER I work in. As much as I loved delivering babies years ago, it's definitely not something you want rolling into your ER when you're not equipped to handle it.
Before my most recent pregnancy, I never would have believed it would be possible to not know you're pregnant, but with Joshua I kind of get it. I had bleeding once a month for the first three months, and I only gained about 10 lbs throughout the whole pregnancy, so at times I never felt pregnant...but I suspect I would have grown a lot in the last 10 weeks that I missed out on. Thank goodness I received the prenatal care that I did, or we probably wouldn't have a Joshua with us today.
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