Good Feeding...Bad Feeding

Inconsistency seems to be the name of the game here in the NICU. Just 3 nights ago I was writing about Kayley taking down 3 full feedings in a row. We had our blinker on and were ready to turn the corner. But, these last few days, Kayley seemed to regress a bit in the feeding area. She did finish a whole bottle for Grandma Marla at 3 pm, but that seems to be the only highlight from today's feedings. Megan said Kayley didn't eat very well for her and Kayley certainly didn't do too well for me tonight. It was almost like she just wanted her pacifier. She would act like she wanted the bottle, but then squirm and get mad when she started to suck on it and get milk. Then, she spit up quite a bit. I had to get a new burp rag because she soaked the one I had. After that, she was pretty much done. And just like last night, we didn't even give her the rest of the feeding. Hopefully this is just a small spell she's going through and it won't last too long. She may be frustrated with the nipple too. The NICU only carries a low flow (which we use) and an extreme flow. The one the nurse tried the other day was the extreme flow. We don't want Kayley to get use to that one though because we can't buy it anywhere. It's flow is higher than what the stores sell. So, I brought our own bottles in tonight. Hopefully she likes them and they solve her problems.

After her feeding tonight, Kayley and I had some issues. While I was swaddling her up, she spit out her pacifier onto the floor. Here in the NICU, that means you toss it and get a new one. The only problem with that was that there were no spares in the room and I don't know where the new ones are stored. So, I just tried to swaddle a mad Kayley who was kicking and screaming. It's not a very easy thing to do. While swaddling, I noticed the blanket got spit up on too. I had to put Kayley down in her bed and head toward the closet for a new blanket. By that time, Kayley was really flailing. I hurried and grabbed the first blanket on top and returned to Kayley's bed. And there she was holding a present for me. Kayley had pulled her feeding tube out. So now, Kayley was mad, her tube was pulled out, we had no pacifier, and I needed to change her blanket. Luckily, Kayley settled down a bit when I picked her up. That gave me time to get the swaddle ready and swaddle her, and remove the tube and tape from her face. It was quite the ordeal but we got through it and now Kayley is sound asleep.

Kayley gained 80 grams tonight. She is now 3540 grams or 7 lbs 12 oz.

The pictures and video posted tonight are courtesy of Grandma Marla. They propped Kayley up in the chair for some new poses. The pictures on the posts lately have gotten a little boring.