Saturday (4/24)

Oneta Simone is going to prove to be a handful for us. She is quite the determined little baby. Once Mandy and her mom were washed up, the attending nurse gave them the update on her progress. She no longer needed her oxygen canula as her saturation levels were steady. She had not had good digestion of her food in the last 24 hours, so they switched her to a continual feeding, which uses the gavage to administer her feeding, bit by bit. Mandy peered into the open crib with a puzzled look. "So, does the food go in through her iv?" No, the nurse responded, they are using her feeding tub. "But there isn't a feeding tube!" Our rambunctious daughter had managed to pull the tube out of her body (which goes in her nose, down her throat and into her stomach - 18 centimeters in length) as well as pull the tape off her face. "Oh my," the nurse responded. "Let's put that back in." Before they could, however, Grandma was smart enough to snap a few pictures of her unobstructed face. She was very attentive and awake during the first hour of the visit, but soon trailed off into a pleasant slumber. Rob's friend Steve came all the way from L.A. to pay her a visit and was seemingly captivated by her beauty, which we can relate to. Rob and Steve seemed to lose track of time staring at her, and soon enough we had to rush off to Irvine to make it to his 3 o'clock feeding so Mandy could breastfeed again.
He latched on even faster than he did yesterday and was nippling for almost 30 minutes. Rob bottle fed him about half a bottle just to make sure he got enough and her took all of that, too, making it three feeds in a row. He must bottle or breast feed for at least 8 feeds in a row for them to remove the feeding tube, and then its just a matter of getting his last check-ups before he can come home. But, I'm getting ahead of myself (can you blame me when I start thinking about his homecoming?).
He was wide-eyed when his other Grandma came to visit, and she was so happy as she had yet to see him in a non-sleeping state. The nurse thought that he might not have had enough to eat during his last feeding and gave him a 10-mL 'snack' at 4:45. He seemed quite content after that, but was soon up and ready for his 6 pm feeding, which he gobbled down as well. What a champion eater!
Grandma King gets two pictures on the blog today - one with each grandbaby, as she is heading back home tomorrow morning. We are so grateful for her helping us out as we got Mandy back to (near) 100%. What a pleasure it was having someone cook our meals and preparing our lunches (including some of the best sandwiches Rob has had in a long time).
She will return in a few weeks when both babies are home to help us cope. Safe travels Grandma King!!!