Suck, swallow...and breathe

This morning the nurse unit manager (NUM) advised me that she has booked a bed for Jensen over in Low Dependency! Currently they are full (all departments are at the moment, there are babies being plonked all over the place), so when a bed becomes available, we'll be wheeling ourselves down the corridor, and closer to the exit. Very very exciting, and I feel nervous too.....luckily we are heading to some rather large baby shops on the weekend to gather the remaining items on our list, in preparation for little man's arrival home.

Breastfeeding is slowly improving, although Jensen thinks he can have a big feed in the morning and he's set up for the rest of the day. The speech therapist came to view his afternoon session (his laziest) and his little lips and eyes remained tightly zipped. I think she might think mummy is telling stories about how great his morning feeds have been. She tried him on the bottle again, and he is still not ready. A few big gulps, a cough, splutter, and choke and he conks out. Maybe another week of breastfeeding will help his coordination. He sucks strongly on the bottle as he does the breast, and it just comes out a lot quicker with the bottle which he just needs to get used to. The sooner he gets the hang of it, the sooner we can come home.

Today a representative for the Miracle Babies Foundation paid us a visit. She gave me some information on mothers groups for parents who have been in the NICU, and understand the importance of healthy babies. No sick children or babies not previously residing in the NICU are allowed. This may be something I'll consider a bit further down the track. They also have someone available 24 hours to chat to with concerns, and anxiety related to being at home without the support of nursing staff and monitors. I'm thinking this number may be on my frequently dialled list! And what a wonderful support they are.

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