I am trying to find the time to post on this blog, to sleep, to eat, and to try and keep some sort of communication with friends and family. I am in to see Sebastian every day and for the most part he is doing well. We have ups and downs and it is very much an emotional rollercoaster. As the days go by we are a bit more prepared for what every day may bring.
Other then not having our son home I think the hardest part is keeping up with milk production so that Sebastian has what is best for him. I was told that I should be pumping every two hours. This worked for the first couple of weeks until I hit my wall. When I say hit my wall I mean got sick from exhaustion. You soon realize that you are not very productive if you are not able to sleep. It is a bit of a catch 22 as they want you to sleep but they are telling you to pump every two hours. Unfortunately I have not mastered the breast pumping and sleeping at the same time. That I am sure will come in time.
When we (the mothers who have children in NICU) bring in the milk it goes to the "Dairy Queen". I used to think of the Dairy Queen as that great place down the road that serves all types of yummy ice-cream but I now see it as something entirely different and alot more important. In the Dairy Queen the milk is either frozen or processed and prepared for your baby's next feeding. The ladies in this department measure the appropriate amounts and prepare it for the nurses to administer to the babies. When they(the babies) get a bit bigger they add vitamins to the milk. If the baby was still in you it would be getting what it needs via the umbilical cord.
When you baby is a micro-premie (under 26 weeks when born) they start giving him/her about 1 ml every two hours and slowly increase it based on the tolerance. The figure out the amount that the baby can take based on a weight calculation. As of today Sebastian is at his maximum feed and getting 13ml every two hours. It is nice to see him gianing some weight.
No comments:
Post a Comment