One day closer to coming home

I must admit: I'm a little frustrated right now as I write this. Perhaps I should wait....

nah!

I'll start with the good things and maybe that will diffuse my irritation!

Lochlan is on the mend! He is getting stronger and stronger with each passing day. He was started on room air around 4pm. He needs to be on room air and monitored for 24 hours before he can go home. So this is an excellent start!

He is starting to stand up in the crib and wanting to push all the fancy buttons that surround the crib....just the ones that call for help and turn on the oxygen and suctioning and all that fun stuff.

Oh and he's even intrigued by the end of the crib where the mattress is raised. "Oh what good times can be had by sticking my feet down there?" Oh I don't know....falling through! He hasn't but he sure could get stuck in there I'm sure! And I wouldn't put it past him to crawl over the bars and fall smack on the hard floor. So, no thanks! Not really into that.

He's also into checking out his IV site. It's wrapped really well but that doesn't stop him from investigating and trying to bite it off or to stick parts in his mouth.  He even thinks its funny to put the end of one of the stat probes in his mouth. And taunting me too! "Momma!" I look and he's grinning with the probe hanging out of his mouth.

Giving him a bath yesterday was loads of fun. Since he can't stray too far from the crib since the oxygen tube only goes so far, we have to bath him in the baby tub in his crib. Thankfully we stripped his crib of sheets but that didn't help the floor from getting washed! I gave him a few toys to play with and he thought it would be fun to scoop up some water and throw it over the side of the bath.

Good times.

Note to self....no matter how stinky he gets, or how much food or snot is stuck to his forehead or hair, do not bathe the toddler in the baby bath on the crib!

Sponge bath...maybe.

Bath at home when we blow this popstand? Absolutely!!! (please be tomorrow!!!!!)

Loch is eating more. And playing with his food more. As in, let's see if dipping a carrot in ice cream or pudding will taste good. What about the broccoli?  Or maybe if I take that straw and dip it and fling it around that would be neat.

Yes, feeling better.

They've put him on pediasure to try to get some extra calories in him. When he was in triage he weighed 19lbs, 10.6 ounces. (with clothes and a diaper!) Apparently today he was 200 grams less but that was without any clothes or a diaper on.  But the nutrition people want him to have 3 pediasure's a day. Three! Ha! We're lucky if he'll take a few sips here and there.
"Milk? Oh yes, it's milk. Here you go!"
Sip sip....
"Momma? Gilk!"

dang.

So we're trying a mix of mostly milk and a little bit of the yucky shake...I mean most delicious drink.

Tonight was not exactly what I thought would go down. I was planning getting Lochlan settled and then kicking back with a movie. (ha ha kicking back....on a pullout chair huddled over a laptop...okay actually that still sounds pretty fancy considering...) But the Loch man had different ideas. He decided it would be fun to stay up as long as possible! Actually I thought for sure he was ready for bed. We read stories, brushed his teeth, all that routine stuff. He was rubbing his eyes....then I realized his stat wire thingamajig was off of his toe....so I asked the nurse to put it back on him so he wouldn't be disturbed while he was sleeping. Well....perhaps that was mistake #1.

That unsettled him pretty quick. Then it was phone ringing.... Lochlan "hello?"

Snuggle snuggle. more songs.

Then the nurse came in for stats and puffers and his toe thing had fallen off again!!!

ring ring "hello?"

more songs...

Still wasn't settling. I think at this point he was leaning over the side of the crib and reaching for the IV bag and poking it and giggling.  Hmmm.....

ring ring...."hello?"

Then it was time for his meds. And the toe stat wire thingy was off again so she put it back on.
Finally got him settled and he was sleeping when....BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Are you fricken kidding me???!!!!! His O2 stats dropped to 88-89 and to not set the alarm off it has to stay above 92. I knew it was possible ...something to do with something....different rhythms and deeper breathing....something....K....

Anyway, so that was in itself already a bit frustrating. But no, it was the fact that the machine was left running and therefore beeping every minute unless I pushed the silence button...every min. Poor thing is trying to sleep. Surprisingly that didn't bug him. (good to know for all those times we tiptoe around at home!)

Then his medicine infusion was complete and the alarm for that went off....so I told the really hot guy that came in....oh...sorry that was just supposed to be in my head....correction: the nurse that came in about the oxygen stats and the constant beeping. So he informed Loch's nurse who came in about 5mins later with the nurse that had tried (and failed) to put the IV in his arm 3 times! No biggie. I had forgiven her. But what I found frustrating was that they weren't using their super duper little boy is sleeping, let's try not to wake him voice.....oh no it was loud and okay....I can get over that....but it of course woke Loch up. So they decided to suction him. Why not learn on the little boy that's already super tired and upset and okay, you student nurse stick the big tube down his nose and suck out all the mucus. Oh and since it wasn't sucking out anything, crank that sucker up! Oh there it is. Okay, but just to make sure let's do both nostrils 2 times...Still freaking out little boy, not to worry, we'll try this side one more time.

Poor little guy was traumatized. No wonder he freaks out when the nurses go anywhere near his nose. Even when I try to wipe his nose with a kleenex he freaks out and turns his head or covers his nose.

I will admit he sounds a lot better....but his stats didn't change all that much. And the nurse was waiting for his number to hit 92 before turning it off and leaving. (for the record it hit it once....if it was me, he should have been consistently at 92 before the machine was off) Granted, I am comfortable with how he sounds and how's he's acting to not be concerned about him. But still....

I do think his probe or whatever you call it is on upside down so that could have something to do with it.

I really hope I'm not being too hard on the nurses. They do great work. They really do. I was just irritated tonight because I don't think some things were thought through and I was getting tired because Lochlan wouldn't settle and I needed a break....

On a side note, I'm feeling much better! No more constant coughing jags!! Woo-hoo! I slept way better last night (cause I actually got some sleep!) and I wasn't coughing very much during the day today either! YES! My voice is even starting to sound like me again. Not some 1-900 #!

So on that note, I should hit the hay. Could be a big homecoming tomorrow to celebrate!! : )