Update from the NICU: Day 19

Current Weight: 3 lbs 5oz
Current Length: Same (15.5 - 15.75 inches)
New Milestone: Bolis feedings

Abigail's feeding method has been changed to bolis feedings! This means that instead of continuous food being given to her through a tube that goes down into her intestines (N-J tube), now they are feeding her in 2 hour intervals with a tube that goes down to her stomach (N-G tube). So far she is doing GREAT on her new feedings, although she is experiencing a little bit of reflux and may need to be put on an acid reducer like Zantac. If she continues to tolerate the N-G tube for a few days, they will slowly start replacing her feedings with bottle feedings. It's really up to her how fast or slowly she wants to start taking a bottle. She still hasn't mastered the suck/swallow/and breathe reflex, so it may be a challenge to get her going on bottles to begin with.

Today Matt was able to bathe her - and she was not happy about getting her bath! Afterwards, though, she stopped crying and just looked up at her daddy for a while as he held her swaddled and the nurses changed her bedding. She was quite entranced!

Matt and I then went to an infant care class with some of the other couples from the NICU. It's so weird being part of this "preemie world" now that most people don't even know exists. Before August 26th, I certainly had no clue about the things preemie parents go through in the NICU or what special considerations they have to take when they bring their babies home.

Here are a few of the things I've learned in our stay at the NICU:

1. Parents of preemies feel cheated out of all of the "normal" birth experiences.  I didn't get to go to a shower and really celebrate while we prepared for Abigail (although I hear my shower was wonderful!). We are woefully unprepared with a nursery. Friends felt awkward celebrating the birth of such an early baby, so we didn't get the balloons and flowers and visitors in the hospital after her birth. We didn't get to really prepare for childbirth or use any techniques we had learned. Abigail's birth was not greeted with the excitement I had always imagined I would have - it was instead a time of high tension and fear.

2. Preemies are NOT just smaller babies! Even I did not realize this until we were put in this situation. Preemies are still supposed to be in the womb, developing - which means they look and act differently than newborns. For example, Abigail gets EASILY overstimulated and begins to panic when she is faced with sensory overload. While a newborn baby can handle being talked to, looking at their mom, and nursing all at the same time, Abigail can't handle that many senses being used together yet. She gets easily frustrated and confused and will flail her arms and stare wide-eyed until some of those stimulators are removed.  This is why we have been told not to have too many visitors in the NICU.

3. Preemies are more suceptible to infections than full-term babies - for most of their childhood! Since over 50% of preemies end up back in the NICU with infections in the first year, in the infant care class we were told that under no circumstances are we to take Abigail out around people for the first three months of her life.  This includes staying home for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. This we have no problem with, as the last thing we want is for Abigail to get sick. We're just hoping everyone can understand why we seem so over-protective and why we're going to insist everybody who visits washes their hands. We're really nervous with cold season starting soon.

4. Preemies will probably not hit their developmental milestones on time. Preemies have both a "real age" (from their actual birthday) and an "adjusted age" (from when they SHOULD have been born). Right now Abigail's real age is 2.5 weeks, although her adjusted age is -5.5 weeks still.  Abigail may always be about 2 months behind on the usual baby milestones of crawling, walking, and talking - although it's possible that she won't be behind at all. But for this reason it is hard to go by the usual baby books as far as what an infant/toddler should be able to do by what age.