When the shift changed again at 7am, we had an older woman as Ronan's nurse. You could tell right away that she knew what she was doing and had been doing it for a long time. She talked to us about what happened that night and tried to ease our minds about everything. She said she would have to take his bilirubin level again but when she came in to do it she brought him sucrose! I asked her to stick Ronan's left foot this time since it had only 1 stick as opposed to his right one that had 5 sticks already. A few hours later Dr. Horger showed up even though he was off today. He had heard we had a rough night and he wanted to personally come in and see us and check on Ronan to ease our minds a bit. Of course it was great to see him and he was very reassuring to us. He told us worse case scenario with Ronan we will be home by Saturday. We had hopes that we would be able to go home today, but Ronan's bilirubin levels were still elevated despite the biliblanket so Dr. Horger ordered him to undergo photo therapy and another series of bilirubin tests to see how he responds to it.
Since we were stuck in the hospital another day, MaryBeth decided to come up and visit us with Susan. She brought with her a gift for Ronan - a super soft and furry blue burp cloth. She also gave us a Willow Tree statue entitled "Brothers." It was a big brother with his arms around his little brother. I was so touched that she thought to include Nolan into our lives still with this gift. It was absolutely perfect! I think some people forget that we had 2 boys and just because Nolan isn't here with us today doesn't mean that he isn't still part of our family. I will always be the mother of 2 boys. I have conceived, carried for 9 months (or nearly 9 months in Nolan's case), and birthed two children. Two children that had Nolan still lived would be considered "Irish twins" having been born less than 12 months apart. I know MaryBeth was glad to just see Ronan but after her very thoughtful gift I had really wished she had been able to hold Ronan.
Fortunately, we were able to keep Ronan in the room with us but we were only able to take him out of the incubator to breast feed. They still wanted us to supplement him with hand feeding breast milk, but they upped the dose to 30mL and required us to do that while he was in the incubator. The lactation nurse showed Marshall how to feed Ronan via bottle that would simulate the breast. Marshall ended up having to feed him 3 times via the bottle before Ronan got his heel pricked and we found out that his levels had indeed gone down by 6pm. The doctor then ordered him taken off the photo therapy overnight and his levels tested again in the morning to ensure they didn't spike back up. As soon as he was out of the incubator I couldn't wait to hold him again. I cuddled him to me and he grabbed on to Nolan's footprint and buried his head into my chest. Prior to being put into the incubator he had taken to hanging on to Nolan's footprint whenever he fed. It was one of those things that just touched my heart.
Since we weren't home for Idol night as we had hoped, the girls brought Idol night to us. Marshall's dad had made us barbecue before he came up so Marshall picked up it up when he went home to take JoJo to the vet. He also picked up a package that came for Ronan. It was from my friend Brooke. She had knitted him a beautiful blanket. The note attached said she had originally started the blanket for Nolan, but never finished it and obviously didn't when he passed but when she found out I was pregnant again she finished it. Now that Ronan was here, she put it in the mail to him. It was his first official piece of mail! Such a beautiful and thoughtful gift. Susan stopped and picked up the fixings for the barbecue - slaw and hushpuppies. I would have liked to have been home by now but I know us staying longer has been in the best interest of Ronan. That's the only thing that's getting me through still being here. Tifni came up and we told her what had happened last night. She did some digging and found out who was in the nursery working and requested her friend Deana be our nurse tonight to insure we were well taken care of tonight. When the shift changed and we met her we were at once relieved. We also met Barbara the nursery charge nurse and she was equally as pleasant. It was nice to know he was going to be well taken care of tonight and that they were going to be gentle with him.
When the shift changed again at 7am, we had an older woman as Ronan's nurse. You could tell right away that she knew what she was doing and had been doing it for a long time. She talked to us about what happened that night and tried to ease our minds about everything. She said she would have to take his bilirubin level again but when she came in to do it she brought him sucrose! I asked her to stick Ronan's left foot this time since it had only 1 stick as opposed to his right one that had 5 sticks already. A few hours later Dr. Horger showed up even though he was off today. He had heard we had a rough night and he wanted to personally come in and see us and check on Ronan to ease our minds a bit. Of course it was great to see him and he was very reassuring to us. He told us worse case scenario with Ronan we will be home by Saturday. We had hopes that we would be able to go home today, but Ronan's bilirubin levels were still elevated despite the biliblanket so Dr. Horger ordered him to undergo photo therapy and another series of bilirubin tests to see how he responds to it.
Since we weren't home for Idol night as we had hoped, the girls brought Idol night to us. Marshall's dad had made us barbecue before he came up so Marshall picked up it up when he went home to take JoJo to the vet. He also picked up a package that came for Ronan. It was from my friend Brooke. She had knitted him a beautiful blanket. The note attached said she had originally started the blanket for Nolan, but never finished it and obviously didn't when he passed but when she found out I was pregnant again she finished it. Now that Ronan was here, she put it in the mail to him. It was his first official piece of mail! Such a beautiful and thoughtful gift. Susan stopped and picked up the fixings for the barbecue - slaw and hushpuppies. I would have liked to have been home by now but I know us staying longer has been in the best interest of Ronan. That's the only thing that's getting me through still being here. Tifni came up and we told her what had happened last night. She did some digging and found out who was in the nursery working and requested her friend Deana be our nurse tonight to insure we were well taken care of tonight. When the shift changed and we met her we were at once relieved. We also met Barbara the nursery charge nurse and she was equally as pleasant. It was nice to know he was going to be well taken care of tonight and that they were going to be gentle with him.
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