We're Out...Oh Wait, No We're NOT

So funny story, I'm sitting here in B's hospital room listening to him sleep and looking at his discharge papers beside my computer.  Okay, not so funny really....here's how my day went:

I came in this morning with the high hopes that we'd be strollin' on outta here around noon, waving good-bye to everyone and sayin' "see ya soon!"...sooo not what happened.

In all fairness, my hopes weren't dashed right away, they took awhile!

I chatted with Rose (Mr.B's day Nurse) about how well he was doing and that we were headed out today.  B and I had a good play on the mat in his room and I put him back into his crib for his 11 am feed (I figured there was no point taking him home till after his feed to make my life easier).  He was about 3/4 through his feed when Dr.Volmiero and Sheena (NP extraordinaire) came in to go through the discharge. 

Sheena gave me all of his updated sheets and all of us new appointments that she scheduled and such.  As we were going through this Dr.V was chatting and playing with B and asked him if he wanted 'up'.  Now Dr.V is one of our favourites for many reasons but one of them is that she's the Dr. that B's had the most out of anyone in this hospital, she knows us, she knows B.  She picked B up and he started to pitch a fit! 

So much love and healing

Long story short we had a retching episode and they left while I was venting him but I called Dr.V back right away because he was retching out straight, bright yellow stomach acid (not white feed).  Really what we don't know is if being picked up put pressure on his tummy (he doesn't like to bend at the waist, it hurts sometimes) and he realized he wasn't feeling well, or if the crying kind of precipitated this?  Who knows.  What I do know is that when I finished venting him and tried to finish his feed he couldn't tolerate it, instant retching.  Sigh...

lounging in Momma's lap

Mr.B seems to do this, his tummy will plod happily along and then just decide it's tired and just stop cooperating.  We decided to give him a bit and let him settle and so I started to gather his laundry.  I realized that his sleeper and receiving blanket that I picked up was soaked in feed as well as the knit blanket in his crib...he'd lost his first feed of the day as well.  I asked his Nurse about it and she went through the notes and the 'leak' had happened right at shift change and the night Nurse thought he'd only lost about 30mls (1oz) of feed and gave him a bolus to make up for that loss.  I guess she didn't see the knit blanket (and it was still wet in the crib) because he certainly lost more than that.  He had the feed when he was sleeping and she reported that the med port opened up.  What I think happened (as has happened before) is that his tummy was under too much pressure (couldn't tolerate the feed) and it popped the med port open.  Thus pouring out his feed (stomach contents) and the rest of the feeding being pumped in would just leaked out.

So adding two and two meant that he'd now had two feeds he most likely couldn't tolerate.  Dr.V and I went round and round about possibilities about still taking him home by spacing out the feeds again and such but about the third time we talked about it she felt he'd just do better here.  I realized too that I was digging my heels in wanting to go home and in reality, we're already here and he can be watched 24/7.  It's simply just easier all around to stay in and deal with it all now. 

Here we are!  We've gone back to running the feeds over 2 hrs and that seems to be working well (one and a half feeds in).  He was apparently very snuggly and would not let his Nurse Allison leave his side after I left this afternoon (not typical B but maybe he just felt Ali needed extra love...don't tell Sarah, remember the pout from a few days ago?).  He was in good spirits tonight when I got here and we had a good play and such.  He did a big pain scream when Allison picked him up into a seated position though so it really begs the question of how uncomfortable his intestines really are at times.

"I love you so much BB"

I'm not unhappy to be here, really I have quite a good time being here (especially when Nurses get to the ends of their shifts and get a little giddy) when B is feeling good.  It's somewhat disappointing but also keep in mind that I never really lay down any set plans when it comes to B.  The hardest part is going to be keeping him entertained over the next few days while we adjust his feeds and such, he's simply bored.

Hospital living

I know some of you think life in the hospital is unimaginable but really, there are amazing people here that are a part of our lives and it is great to see them.  Yes, it is certainly harder and more stressful when B's not as well but it is still not ever really a 'bad' experience.  I quite love our ACH family and it's nice to be able to see everyone over the stretch of a few weeks and B loves the attention (who wouldn't?).

The moral of the story?  Onwards we go, if we need to be here then here we are.  There is still an end in sight, it's just a bit further then it was 24 hrs ago. 

The big boys were certainly disappointed (although I was very careful to say he 'might' come out today) and it certainly does make our day to day more difficult but we are in the swing of things now...I got this.

I need to also say a Thank you to Linda F., a reader that we've never met from Ontario who always has something nice to say.  Thank you for your gift in the mail today, it was a surprise and simply so very kind.

Also a Thank you for the entertainment given by Sarah and Allison tonight...I needed the laugh ;)

From Our Home (Hospital Room) To Yours...