10/22

Brad had to go into the office this morning and Tyler to school ... so it was just me at the hospital for most of the day. I was equipped with my Ipad, Kindle, cell phone, and my Ipod touch. :)

I arrived just in time for the 9:30 feeding. I had a new nurse today who was very very helpful. Emily was wide awake after having her temperature taken and diaper changed that I was fortunate to have a great nursing session with her. We still offered the bottle of milk after ward since I don't consistently get the same amount of milk, so it's hard to know how much she gets from nursing. Don't want her to still be hungry.

There isn't much to do at the hospital ... so I basically hung out in the parent's lounge near the NICU. It's a room for the NICU parent's to wait and relax. There's a room for pumping, a room for sleeping, a bathroom that has shower, some rocking chairs, a table with chairs, refrigerator, and a small kitchenette area.

The refrigerator is stocked with things to drink and some food. There were apples, string cheese, sandwiches, milk and juice. Fresh coffee, oatmeal, granola bars, fruit cups, cup o noodle, mac and cheese, etc ...

I took advantage and had some breakfast. Then I logged on to IM and ended up chatting with a few friends for most of the morning.

For the 12:30 feeding we had to include vitamin drops. Rather then just give the drops to Emily (most babies don't like the taste and will spit most of it out), the nurse suggested we mix it in a bit of milk. So we used 20 ounces of milk to start with via bottle. This vitamin drop has a strong smell and I'm sure a strong taste. It made her milk look dark green maybe even close to black, lol. Eeww, even I wouldn't want to drink it.

Emily is smart. After the first sip/suck, she made a face and then wouldn't open her mouth for me. As much as I tried, she kept her lips tightly together in protest of having to drink her tainted milk. It was actually really funny. We ended up having to "trick" her and eventually got her to drink the rest of it. Nursing after ward went relatively well.

Went back to the parent's room to hang out again until Brad came back for 3:30 feeding. When he is with me, I nurse first and then he gets to offer Emily the bottle. She looks so little when Brad is holding her.

The rest of the night evening went by quickly. We picked up Tyler from school, then went home to let Hoku out and fee her dinner. We didn't make it back to the hospital in time for the 6:30 feeding, so instead I pumped.

We met Cindy and Shaun for dinner and had some good food and conversation.
Then it was back to the hospital to drop off milk and for the 9:30 feeding. Tyler came into visit Emily, but got bored really quick. He and Brad ended up in the parent's lounge for most of this visit, lol.

Back at home, there were lots of things I wanted to do, but I was rather tired. I set my alarm to pump twice in the night and called it a night.