Yeah, what day is it again?

I feel like I ask this question at least 10 times a day. I know exactly what the date is because I have to write it on all of Camille's bottles but I have no idea what day of the week it is - everything is just running together. Bill and I are going up to the hospital for most of the day. Our goal is to be with Camille for as many of her feedings as our bodies can take. Camille eats every 3 hours, so we try to get up to OHSU by 8:30am so we can do her 9am feeding. When we arrive, we change her diaper, check her temperature, switch her blood oxygen probe from one foot to another, unplug her from her monitors and feed her. If I breastfeed, that means we have to weigh her first. After she eats, we reweigh her and determine if she needs more in a bottle or not. Then we get her rewrapped, plugged in and ready for sleep. The whole process takes about an hour. When we finish, I have to go pump, then we try to figure out what to do for an hour and a half when it all starts again.

We've been doing her 9am, 12pm, and 3pm feedings, which means we're at the hospital from 8:30 - 4:30pm. My parents have been coming in daily and giving Camille her 9pm feeding. We're happy she has family for 4 out of 8 feedings, but of course we want to be there more. It sounds like we may need to stay home a little more because we think our little girl may be coming home soon and our house is far from ready. Camille is eating most of her feedings that her family is here for. The nighttime feedings have been a little less.

Today was a really long day because we also attended a parenting class from 3:30-5:30. If you weren't already stressed about being a parent to a preemie, be sure to take the parenting class. It is basically a breakdown of all the things that could go wrong if you do something stupid, like take the advice from the wrong book. I was a little deflated afterwards, because I like to do things exactly right, and instead I feel like we're getting mixed messages about what is right. Example: Don't use talcum powder of any kind. I knew this one, but another mama pointed out that in a going home packaged she received from the Mother Baby Unit (MBU) there is a bottle of baby powder. Another example: Swaddle baby so she has access to her hands. Bill and I have been swaddling Camille with her arms at her sides. Don't swaddle baby at bedtime. The nurses, and so also Bill and I, have been swaddling her to sleep. It is just frustrating and not only does everyone consider themselves an expert, all the actual experts disagree about everything.

In addition to the stress of the class, the stress of the environment where Camille is, and the stress of this whole situation, we had a pretty scary incident this afternoon while feeding Camille. We were smushed into our corner with screens up for privacy when we her this crash and thump and the screens moved. Startled the heck out of us and got immediately scary when we realized there was a woman lying on the floor outside our area. The poor woman had fainted and briefly blacked out. The nurses called a code to get rapid response up to her. She came to relatively quickly and was talking, but she was laying on the floor and we could see her head right below the screens. The adults were pretty stressed out so after the woman was tended to and taken to the ER, we calmed down and switched Camille to a bottle. I believe the woman will be just fine since she was talking on her way out the door. Bill and I agreed that we really need to get our baby home because the environment can't be good for her. (Sound familiar?)

So there you have it! Rest assured Camille is making excellent progress and is well on her way to coming home with us. Bill and I can't wait to be exhausted because of Baby Girl's needs at home and not because of daily trips to the hospital.