Phew

Sam made it through another round and still no NG tube to force feed. There were definitely pushers, but the surgery team was on his side. Unfortunately, 'the team' rotates weekly and we will get to climb this hill again with the new folks that will wonder and push. Slow and steady wins the race here folks. The nurse gossip is a flow and that's annoying but what can you do? I'll tell you what; you just keep advocating for your baby that has no voice, listen to the spirit, and be open to the greater good.

The most confusing part to me is that the same people that are trying to get a tube down him this morning are the same people that agreed to stop and declare him NPO due to the vomiting caused directly by the tube in the first place. Didn't he just start eating again yesterday morning? Isn't his tummy working pretty hard to tolerate the 20 mls? Isn't his system telling us something when he needs to burp several times, taking up to 2 hours, with a tiny morsel of food? Can't we just listen to Malachi and put your protocol and medical books down for just 1 second, just 1?

And let me just make 1 thing clear. We are not completely against an NG tube, IF it is needed. No one offered Malachi the chance or more than 2 feeds to show us if it was needed. Again, slow and steady wins the race. He shows no signs of not having a clue how to eat. He shows every sign of being a normal baby that just started eating. They all look at numbers; 4 weeks old, 11 1/2 pounds, and they say oh he's term he should be doing this and that, he should tolerate this and that. Well let's just stop shoulding him, how about that!

He kicks and makes cute little please feed me noises. He smacks his lips with his little tongue and opens as wide as he can. He refuses his binki and tries to eat anything that comes near enough for him to suck on. He roots around and eventually gets mad because you are not giving him what he wants.

Honestly, I really feel that if I could be there 24-7 and feed him ad-lib he would be home really soon. So far we can't figure out a reasonable plan to make that happen, especially with Sam needing to head back to work. We'll see how this all goes, we are hopeful.

We are there pretty much 24-7 between Sam, myself, and our friends that are helping us. Sam takes the night shift, making sure he's always there for rounds. Funny things happen during rounds when you are not there; funny and outrageous. We have had some luck with nurses and we have had some that make you scared to death to leave to go to the bathroom. Things are working out for the most part.

Sam starts back to work this week which will be a bit tricky. He'll stay at the hospital all night, making sure to be there for rounds and then head in to work. I will take the morning shift after he leaves and then we have 2 friends taking the 12-6 shift until he is done with work and can come back in. He was able to arrange to go in to work later than usual and stay later so he can do both without missing rounds.

And we're off!