Pacing Nurses & Timed Bottle Feedings

If you thought I was crazy before, wait until you hear this...

I am having test anxiety...just a little bit. Carson had his tube feeding tube removed this morning because he had taken all of his full feedings by bottle for the past 24 consecutive hours. This is a MAJOR milestone for a NICU baby. Now he just needs to continue doing 100% bottle feedings for the next 48 hours (without failing any of them), and we could be taking him home very soon. Anyway, so the pressure is on. I gave him his noon feeding by bottle and he had trouble staying awake for it. He had 30 minutes to drink all of his 55 cc of milk. The nurse was practically standing over my shoulder reminding me of the time. I started to panic and felt like I was 17 again and sitting for the S.A.T.

The nurse was literally pacing behind me while I practically begged Carson to finish his bottle. I actually found myself softly saying, "Come on little Carson. Come on. Wake up. Just a little more." In all fairness to him, he had just finished his daily bath right before feeding time, so I thought it was incredibly unfair to expect him to eat after that. Whatever. He finished just in the nick of time.

The same thing happened today at the 8 PM feeding. Carson kept falling asleep, and I tried every trick in the book to get him interested in feeding. But he didn't finish. He drank 4/5ths of his bottle and was done. Technically he failed the stupid test, and I will be pissed if I see that damn tube in his nose tomorrow morning. (Good chance it will be back.)

I just thought the whole thing was ridiculous. I was stressing over this. It doesn't help the situation when I have a nurse pacing around and telling me, "Four more minutes." I should have asked if they pause the damn stop watch for burp times.

Enough of that...

Carson is at 5 lbs and little Miss Kate is 3 lbs, 6 oz. She is starting to pack on the weight quickly now. It's amazing how much she is changing now that she is filling out. For some reason the nurses have much better luck feeding them than I do. They hover over me, so I know I am doing it correctly but I can't seem to keep them awake. The nurses tell me this is common. Basically, the babies feel so relaxed and comfortable with me that they just fall asleep. I love that they do that...except when I want to get them out of the NICU and timed bottle feeding is one of the final hurdles. Grr.

I really sense that Carson will be coming home soon. Perhaps in a week. I can't wait!

I had a nice visit with my mom this past weekend, although it seemed like a short visit. She couldn't get over how much the twins had grown and changed since birth.

That's about it in my world. I hope everyone is doing wonderfully. Send me a line.