NICU Diaries: Week 13
Baby is 40 weeks corrected gestational age.
Read about last week: Week 12!
Day 85: Henry’s World
Baby’s vital signs are stable and he loved his bath last night! He lost a little bit of weight (only 13g, less than half an ounce), but it’s nothing to worry about. Nurse Kayleigh gave him some milk drops with his paci after the bath, but he spit it out! He was too tired to take a bottle, so he just went to sleep. It’s kind of become a pattern for today.
Since feeding is the last big thing he needs to learn, it’s what we’re focusing on. I tried breastfeeding him at noon, but he was tired and also wanting to have his hands all over so we wrapped him and I tried a few positions. In less than 10mins he got 7ml. He sure tooted a lot through Cares, feedings, and even in between when we had to change his bum again. I think much of his discomfort involves pushing his stool.
We tried breastfeeding again at 3pm and he wouldn’t take, so we cuddled skin to skin instead. I couldn’t stop kissing the top of his perfectly round head. There were no more wires or plastic pieces in the way, and that was a wonderful feeling to connect with my baby all natural. I even got to stroke his perfectly soft little cheek once. He has that brand new baby smell, one of my favorite scents in the whole world. 
Our nurses have said that Baby goes from zero to sixty, which is pretty accurate. He’s perfectly quiet and content one moment, and wailing at the highest volume the next. Nurse Haley says that he is the most vocal baby she’s ever seen and he acts like an 80 year-old man bending over looking for something, “This is Henry’s world,” she says, “and we just live in it.”
We had a new to us nurse practitioner today, and she was surprised that she hadn’t rounded on Henry yet during his long stay. She was so kind and a good listener, able to calm Baby with a gentle touch while I pumped. Our discussion ended with how we just need to be patient and she gave me a nice big hug. It was a long day, and I thought I was doing really well until I started driving home and began to cry. Hours and hours I spent with Baby Henry, how was it not enough when I missed the smell of him and his little grunting noises? My heart felt a pang from the empty spot where we should be together.
Day 86
Day 87
Day 88
Day 89
Day 90
Day 91
Check out more weeks from our NICU journey here.
