I started today like any other, I got Grayson off to Kindergarten and Elyse came to watch Penny while I went to the NICU.
When I arrived at the NICU, one of Kingston's favorite and primary nurses Amber told me the doctors decided to start demand feeding Kingston starting today. What? That wasn't the plan, but okay. Then, Amber told me she fed Kingston 160 ml at 9 am. What??? We have been slowly working up to 49 ml per feeding. I was shocked and scared to think of all that food in his belly. But, he was fast asleep and looked happy.
A couple hours later the doctors did grand rounds. Sandra (Kingston's nurse practitioner) told me they were hoping Kingston would tolerate these demand feedings well and that he would be ready to go Wednesday or Thursday. Again, not the plan. The plan was to slowly increase his feeds and hopefully in the next 10 days he would be ready to come home. But, I was okay with it if they were. We talked a bit about him being discharged and what to expect. Next she told me they would be doing another EKG in the morning to check on Kingston's heart condition. Um, what heart condition? On May 19th, the day after his worst day, they did a EKG and they told us it came back perfect. But apparently that wasn't the case. Kingston has Patent Ductus Arteriosus. A heart problem where there isn't a closure between the two major arteries. Usually, with bigger babies like Kingston it will close by itself but still needs to be followed to make sure it does. Sandra said she could still hear a murmur so she is pretty sure it is still open. So, I am praying it will heal itself.
So, noon came around and it was time to feed King again. Amber, his nurse, got his bottle ready and then went on a break. I started to feed him. I could tell something was wrong with him, he wasn't breathing right and wasn't swallowing smoothly. So, I stopped and just held him for a couple of minutes. And, then BAM.
THROW UP EVERYWHERE.
It was scary. It 's different from when a normal healthy baby throws up. A baby with Necrotizing Enterocolitis throwing up is a bad sign of what's going on inside. A sign that he is not tolerating his feedings. His legs and arms were also modeling pretty badly. Something I hadn't seen him do in weeks.
I had Sandra paged. Meanwhile, I was keeping Devaughn up to date and he was now on his way there.
Sandra came and I explained what happened. I told her I was extremely uncomfortable with the sudden increase in feedings and that I thought going from 49 ml to 160 ml per feeding wasn't a good idea. She told me there was no way he had 160 ml. Umm, yeah he did. So, we asked Amber again how much she gave him. She said she gave him a 50 ml bottle and he was still starving so she gave him another 50 ml bottle. Sandra was really upset and said that was way too much. Even though he was starting demand feeding, he wasn't suppose to go over around 80 ml per feeding. She quickly ordered an x-ray of his stomach and blood work to see if he was okay. The whole time I'm thinking, hmmm, I really thought she said she fed him 160 ml not 100 ml.
Sandra then took Amber out of the room and 20 minutes later Amber came back crying. It was so uncomfortable because we really like her and she is so wonderful with Kingston. She apologized for feeding him so much and not understanding the doctors orders. I felt horrible for her. It was a terrible day all around.
A couple hours later when I was leaving, I happened to see Kingston's journal that his nurses have been writing in for him. Before all this happened, Amber had already written in it earlier in the day. I see that she wrote that she had given him a "whopping 160 ml". That's what I thought, I guess she was too scared to admit it.
I'm now home, exhausted. Grayson scored 5 goals in his soccer game tonight. Definitely, the highlight of my day. I'm wondering how I am going to get up all night with Penny. At least she is going to smell good. I just gave her a bath and lathered her with Bobbi Brown baby. Best baby lotion ever.
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