The Over-Bearing Mother

So this morning the over-bearing mother in me came out. I arrived for the boys care times a little early this morning so I could meet Bryan's dad, Grandpa Mike, for a visit. Kaden was having trouble with reflux and spitting up during his feeding this morning. He was on the c-pap and it was almost time for him to be switched over to his cannula. While switching him over he just kept desating and desating, and he was doing the color change thing again. He had never changed the colors he did today. I kept telling the nurse, he always does this when his belly is distended and hurting him. She just kept going about her business and messing with him saying “Are you getting sick little guy, are you coming down with something?”. It had gotten bad enough they were considering calling the doctor into the room and just leaving Kaden on c-pap. Deep down I knew that wasn’t the solution to the problem so I kept repeating myself over and over. “I think it’s his belly.” “I think it’s his belly.” She still wasn’t listening to me. We undid his clothing and his stomach was huge but the nurse wasn’t going to do anything about it because he was in the middle of his feed. I didn’t understand why they would keep shoving more food down there when he looked like he was going to explode. I felt like crying, but I decided instead of crying, although there were some tears welling up in my eyes, I would just be very persistent. Most of the staff has gotten to know me pretty well, except for this nurse, and it has gotten to the point that rather than the nurses helping with the c-pap/cannula changes, I help the respiratory therapist with the changes. This respiratory therapist knew me pretty well, as I have been her assistant many times before, and she kept looking at me. She finally said “Well, is there any way we can interrupt his feeding and let some of the air out.” The nurse him-hawed around and so the respiratory therapist got pushy too. She said, “Let’s just give it a try. I just don’t feel comfortable continuing with the c-pap without trying this first.” The nurse finally gave in and pulled some of the feeding back along with 5mL of air, which is not very much, but I will tell you what, it cured the problem. Kaden was fine for the rest of the day. In fact he even set off the alarms for having saturations that were too high. So there, it’s official, mommy knows best.
After the whole fiasco was over the nurse really didn’t have much to do with me for the rest of the day, which was probably good because I may have opened a can of mommy whoop ass on her, just kidding. Braylon’s nurse, who was very nice, spent the rest of the day helping me with Kaden too.
Dr Egger caught up with me while I was visiting with the babies this morning. He has decided to thicken Braylon’s feeds and increase his Zantac to twice a day. He started Kaden on Zantac since he is beginning to have trouble with reflux also. They are going to try and increase Kaden’s calories again tomorrow to see if he can tolerate it better now that he is alternating between c-pap and cannula. They will be using a different type of formula added to the breastmilk that is a little easier on the stomach. He is going to continue Kaden on the alternating of the c-pap and cannula to give him a little break because he still has to work harder than his brother to breath.
Both boys have gained weight. Kaden is 2lbs 15oz, he gained back the ½ oz he had lost last night. Braylon is 3lbs 9oz and is looking more like daddy the more his face starts to fill out. I am amazed at how different he looks since putting on a few ounces. I think I can even tell a difference from yesterday.
They have also changed Braylon’s care times to “big boy” care times, which are now every three hours. This new schedule has been keeping me very, very busy. I missed one of Braylon’s care times this morning because the nurses forgot to tell me about the change. His care times are now at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, and 11pm. While his brothers are 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm, and 12am. I usually don’t make it to the 8am care times since I can’t seem to wake up that early after pumping all night. Their new schedule means I will only have breaks between 12pm and 2pm, 2pm and 4pm, and 5pm and 8pm. The couple of hours in between have been filled with holding the boys and pumping. I know that I could probably miss a few care times but after this morning’s escapade I am even more determined to make it to as many of the care times I can. At least it makes the time go by quicker.