Day 6 - Spaghetti junction
MILLIE has had her "long-line" in for more than 24 hours now.
Inserting it was not a pleasant experience. Not for her, her mummy nor the nurses.
The long-line is a plastic tube, or cannula, about 20cm in length. It is inserted through a vein and pushed in towards the heart.
This enables the doctors to feed premature babies intravenously, a process called Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN).
At first, the nurses tried to insert the long-line through Millie's foot. But she has always been a fidget-bottom and wasn't having any of it.
The nurses tried again, but couldn't get the long-line in. Eventually, they gave up on her foot and finally managed to insert it in through Millie's arm.
By this time, she was screaming and crying tiny tears. Mummy and even the nurses were crying too.
Today, she is much calmer. She sleeps peacefully when laid on her front and snuggles up to mummy for a cuddle when surrounded by the special blanket knitted by Nana.Millie was fed for the first time today.
The TPN was supplemented with tiny amounts of milk. Today, she had 0.5ml (one tenth of a teaspoon) of mummy's milk every four hours.
It was fed into her using a tube through her nose and into her stomach.
If the feeding works, the amount will gradually be increased until Millie is able to breast feed and can drink mummy's milk to her heart's desire.
Time together is precious.
Millie enjoys being held skin-to-skin, but like other premature babies she can become distressed if she receives too much contact.
This can make parenting very emotional.
Naturally, parents want to hold their babies. But it is not uncommon for premature babies to be held for as little as one hour each day.
The rest of the time is spent gazing through the perpex glass of the incubator, wondering whether the spaghetti junction of tubes and wires is doing its job properly.
The lack of privacy in the Special Care Baby Unit makes parents very self-conscious.
It means they must get to know their babies in full gaze of other people, rather than in the comfort of their own home like other parents.
But mummy is now a dab hand at changing the tiniest nappies in the world. And despite his shaky hands, daddy has managed to wash Millie using a cotton bud dipped in sterilised water.
Both mummy and daddy feel they and Millie have come a long way in the last few days.
The nurses are doing a sterling job helping them along in what is sometimes a daunting situation.
They never intrude, but they are always supportive and available with advice if needed. And they call daddy 'dad', which he likes.
posted by Johann @ 11:37 PM
1 Comments:
A few months ago, my son was born 9 weeks early. He spent 5 weeks in a special care nursery. I understand what you're going through. I'll be praying for your daughter and you. The good news is that so many premature babies come through these times unscarred (my son is a good example); I'm afraid we as parents aren't usually as lucky. If you want to read about life once they get home, you can check out my blog at matkatpat.blogspot.com.
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