marching along

Until now Calder has been on constant feeds through the tube passing through his nose into his stomach (previously into his intestines.) Every four hours the nurses would refill his bottle, but there was never a time food was not being pumped into his stomach. A few days ago they started compressing these feeds, pumping the same amount of milk at a slightly higher rate so that every four hours he’d receive the food over the next three hours. To help prepare him for the feeding schedule he’s likely to need to be on at home, now his bottle is being changed every three hours, and the 48 ccs of milk pumps so that all the food is gone by the time two hours is up. That means that for every three hours there is one hour where he isn't being fed, and bottle to the mouth or not, he knows it. Calder, just like his momma, is a grump when he’s hungry.

Calder is also very stubborn (not like his momma!), and is also proving himself to be quite strong, standing absolute in his desire to look this way or that. When he wants to move his head, the man moves his head. There is very little hope even as a full grown adult of keeping him just so in order to keep his cannula sufficiently up in those little nostrils.

To help entertain his inquiring mind (I’m just assuming, but he’s clearly asking himself many questions as his eyes search his surroundings when he’s alert and out of his crib), we did get not only the mobile set up a week or two ago, but a swing. He seems quite amused by both. The swing took a little getting used to – when he first tried it he brady-ed for the first time in weeks (it seems, anyway), what with his chin pressed against his chest, but the nurses resolved this situation by rolling up a towel to place behind his neck to help prop his chin up. The monkeys dancing from the mobile have bows in their hair, it’s true, but Calder hasn't petitioned yet – he’s typically mesmerized.

Because the docs compressed his feeds last night and because he had an eye exam today, they did not adjust his flow, which is currently at 3 liters per minute. His eyes today were marginally better than they were last week so while both are still considered Stage 2, they’re a milder Stage 2. Again, the ophthalmologists continue to be optimistic.