Fussy

While yesterday was a fabulous day for me because of the support of my husband, the past five days have not been ideal for Clara.  She has had wonderful periods of play and she is continuing to prove herself to be a tough (handles pain like a champ and does her best to self soothe instead of crying fitfully) and gentle (loves smiles, kisses, indulging the staff with her undivided attention when they talk to her, good-natured, and easy to please) little girl. What is frustrating is that she has been particularly fussy - which is just so unlike her.  She isn't a complainer and is always easily distracted.

She had a horrible night last night, only able to fall asleep in my arms, at the breast or in bed with me.  I finally had to call Alan at 6am to relieve me as I had only gotten about 2-4 hours of not so good sleep.  I couldn't have made it today without his help and don't have words for how to thank him.  He was our "watch dog" this morning as the nurse shift change took place.  Clara and I kept sleeping while he answered any questions they had or acknowledged whatever they felt like they needed to communicate until she and I both woke up at around 11. 

She threw up her NG tube 45 minutes later - which explained the extreme discomfort she seemed to be having in her bloated belly.  She got to be free of the NG for about 5 hours before they had to put it back in for the night.  Our nurse today, Heather, asked if I'd like to pre-medicate Clara before the process of stuffing a tube up her nose and down her throat.  (She didn't quite phrase it that way.)  I had never been asked that before, and only today realized how helpful that might be before putting her through such trauma.  We gave her Benadryl (since she was probably feeling some tummy discomfort today anyway and since she had not had a good nap all day, it would make her drowsy).  It was the FIRST time in 5 days that Clara has not fussed when put into bed.

She slept soundly while Alan and I went to get pizza at our favorite local place - Applewood Pizza - and didn't wake until the moment we walked back into the unit 2 hours later.  We had discussed at dinner that she may still be having some pain and that if she still seemed fussy tonight, we would give her some dilaudid.  Lo and behold, she was fussy and dilaudid worked.  She is now soundly sleeping and there are no anticipated entrances into the room until 2:30am when the nurse will have to refill Clara's feed bag.

Here's to a good night's sleep for all of us.