We have a new freedom now on the wards. Lovely to be able to pop Clem in the Ergo and take him for walks. I wasn't sure how he'd like being worn after so long in bed, but he seems to really enjoy snuggling in and usually goes straight to sleep. Still longing for the day we can be at home together as a family, but for now at least we can take some whole-family adventures around the hospital.
We are adjusting to our new daily rhythm. Mike and I take turns to sleep at the hospital in Clem's room. After an awful night each on a broken fold-out chair, I plead my case just politely and pathetically enough that someone found a proper fold-up bed they kept stashed away for long-termers like us. The surgical ward tends to have a much higher turnover of patients than NICU, we've already had three different neighbours in a week, but thankfully there are only two beds in our room (some are four or six) and we have the window side, which gives us just a little visual privacy, and a place to gaze out over the verandah to the gardens, playground and sky. Lena is coping with the new pattern better than we all thought, and enjoying having special Mummy nights and Daddy nights. And even though the hospital-sleeping parent tends to not get great sleep, it's been lovely for both of us to spend more time with Clem. The morning smiles he reserves for the parent who spent the night are truly special.
On the wards, more visitors are allowed so more fun things tend to come around to us as well. Clem met his first dog today!
The delta therapy dogs come around weekly. He seemed quite intrigued by the feeling of soft dog hair between his toes, and of course Lena, Mike and I enjoyed lots of pats.
Meals for parents staying are not organised by the hospital, so we also take turns organising food to bring in. A little tricky sometimes but we're making it work. Kind friends who have been offering food: if anyone's passing by soon and feels like dropping us a meal or snacks, we won't say no. We have really limited food preparation facilities on the ward, so can only really use meals that are individual portions, either eaten cold or microwaveable, and can be eaten as-is from the container. And not too many at once please, as all going well, we may not be here much longer!
Mike had a trip back to Orange this week for one shift at work, but thankfully grandma was available to come and help out.
Clem is doing really well. Late last week he went up to full milk feeds via the tube to his intestines. This meant he could come off the IV feeds completely which was very exciting for us and great for his health, as long term IV feeding can cause other health issues. So he's now an exclusively breast-milk fed baby.
The next step was introducing feeds into his stomach. This started Monday and so far seems to be going really well. During the nightime the stomach feeding is a continuous trickle via tube, but during the day we have been dripping the small amounts into his mouth which he is really enjoying. Still nervous about testing the new repair site, and have everything crossed this time it will work, but so far so good.
No comments:
Post a Comment