She's a Diva Already

I just talked to the nurse taking care of Cataleya in the hospital. Our girl has been breathing on her own since Friday with no episodes!! Now that her breathing is under control, feeding is our last hurdle before she can come home.

Right now she's taking her feeds through a Nasal Gastric tube in her nose. She's getting 16mL per hour continuously. She's been able to take 6-10mL from a bottle in the past week, but she's been spitting up a little so they gave her a break from bottle feeding this weekend. Yesterday they tried consolidating her feeds into 3hr cycles- 24mL hour one, 24mL hour two, and 0mL hour three- then repeat. She did fine during the day, but she barfed everywhere when they tried to feed her at night. They started the continuous feeds again after that.

The nurse said Cataleya got a "spa treatment" last night since she was covered in throw up. While they were washing and lotioning her up, the nurse rolled her over on her tummy- something she couldn't do before with the breathing machine and healing incision. Cataleya was so happy! She was kicking her legs and looking all around. She was very upset when they got her dressed and flipped her over on her back.

The nurse said Cataleya is very "talkative". She lets them know when her diaper is even a little bit wet or dirty. She is very vocal about her preference to be held rather than put in the bassinet, and she likes sleeping on an incline- not on a flat mattress. I love hearing that. She's got spunk.

I am so thankful that the nurses have taken such great care of Cataleya these past 2 months. They are all she's had. You can tell by talking to them, that these nurses have really taken a personal interest in her. They make sure she's in real clothes and not just white hospital Tshirts. They put bows in her hair, and they're calling her Cataleya even though technically her name is Baby Girl *Legal Last Name*. Every time I've called the hospital, there has been a volunteer "cuddler" in her room holding her.

It's awful for me to be so far away from my baby and not have any control of when I can see her. I feel indebted to these people who care for her now when I can't.