Another Day...

I couldn't think of what to title today's post; nothing noteworthy really happened today. Willow didn't eat as well as yesterday. At her 10 AM feeding she was wide awake but took only 35 mLs. Still nothing to complain about, I guess. I skipped her 1:00 feeding (because she's not supposed to nipple 2 feedings in a row) and went back for the 4:00. She was fast asleep and wouldn't be roused. Ditto for the 7 PM. So now I'm sitting here at the Beacon House, waiting, because Willow's nurse is going to call me if Willow is awake at 10 PM so I can run over there for that. The good news is, last night, Willow's nurses pretty much overrode doctor's orders and decided to nipple her when she was awake, which she was at 10 PM and 4 AM. She took 30 and 35 mLs those times. So you could look at it as Willow having successful nippling sessions 3 times in 24 hours. That's a lot of sucking for a little baby to do!
I got the worst kink in my back breastfeeding this morning. Ow! I think I was concentrating so hard on getting Willow to latch on, I just tensed my back into a knot!
One baby got discharged and no new ones have been admitted, so the NICU overcrowding situation is hopefully easing up. One other baby will likely get discharged before Willow and then...hopefully...she'll be next. It's crazy what a NICU veteran I feel like. I feel so wise and world-weary compared to the new moms I see coming around with their still-swollen baby bellies and the scared look in their eyes. Ah, memories. It seems so long ago I was there. The pump room is definitely the mom-meeting place. The standard get-to-know-you greeting seems to be "how is your baby doing?" Then it's "how early was he/she?" and "Why was he/she born early?". They're always amazed when I tell them Willow's story. I hope it make them feel hopeful and not as scared, because their baby wasn't nearly as premature as Willow (there haven't been any 26-weekers in here since Willow; in fact I think a 30-weeker is the next youngest that's been born). Josh and I were laughing last weekend because we were walking down the hall in the OB area and I was whistling a tune. Then we realized I was whistling the tune the baby ventilator makes when it alarms. We started laughing, and a nurse was walking behind us and goes, "was that the vent alarm?" Ha. You know you've been in the NICU too long when...
I got the cutest video today, but I don't think I'll be able to upload it. We lost the good wireless connection we were picking up for awhile and we're back to the slow and unreliable Beacon House wireless. It takes forever just to upload photos; videos would pretty much overload it. Well, here are some pics.