Day +3: Playing and Many Wardrobe Changes

This morning, I tried the bottle with straight formula again. This time, I was getting even more brave by trying 6 oz. of formula AND holding him in my arms in the rocking chair. I was worried he wouldn't take it from me if I was snuggled up to him because it might remind him of when he used to nurse. I was also worried that the 6 oz. would be too much and he would not want to finish it. Well, well, well, my dear family and friends, he finished it in about 10 minutes! He sucked that stuff down as if he'd been doing it his whole life! It was really sweet to be able to cuddle him while he was eating. I could finally feel that bond again that I had felt before when he would nurse well and be really satisfied eating. It was a heartwarming moment, for sure.

After that, the nurse brought in an Exersaucerfor Kal to play in. He was so excited and cute in it!

Okay, Mama. No pictures, already. Just let me play, okay?

Well this looks cool...

Ooooh! What's this?

After his nap, the next time to feed him comes around, but first, we needed to give him some more oral medicines. I tried giving it to him in small portions, but he ended up throwing them back up. We decided to wait a little bit to give them to him again. What stinks more than throwing up your meds is having to re-take the meds again right afterward. Yucky...

After that, he was happy as a clam, so I figured he would be good to have some more formula. The nurse was really sweet and suggested I take a break and go grab some lunch. She volunteered the Tech (like the nurses' assistant) to come in the room to feed him. Once I saw that Kal was eating well with the Tech holding him, I headed off to eat lunch. When I came back, I asked the Tech how he ate. She replied, "Well he pretty much threw up river on me, so..." I asked Kal, "What did you do to her? Did you throw up on her?!" Kal just beamed this big, naughty smile. Bahahaha. I still felt bad for that poor girl, though! She even had to put on one of those weird, fabric disposable shirts because Kal threw up on her normal scrubs. I kept apologizing, but she told me, "Oh, don't even feel bad. He's so cute!" Good thing her shift was almost over, at least.

Now, as you can imagine, I was nervous for his next feed, but he actually did really well and felt great after. Phew!

Spending time with his new, favorite toy- the elephant that hums lullabies. (:

He especially loves playing with the elephant's ears.

On the other hand, during his last feed of the night, he threw up alllllllll over- on himself, down my shirt, down my pants, on the chair, and on the floor. It was so much that the nurse had to come in and grab him, wash him, and give him a dressing change for his central line (they don't want it to get wet for risk of infection.) Luckily, the nurse was so sweet to let me go take a shower and clean up while she took care of Kal.

When I returned, Kal was getting a little tired and cranky. He hadn't had a very good nap earlier. I didn't want to risk feeding him more and just making him throw up again, so I just held him and give him cuddles to help him. I just felt bad for him that he had thrown up so much today. I was actually surprised how happy he is the rest of the time, despite it all. He did get upset while getting his mouth care today (to keep his mouth clean), which he usually does really well with. I noticed some spots on the roof of his mouth and asked the nurse about them, to which she checked and said they were the beginnings of mouth sores. Ah, darn it.

Then, as I was holding him, Kal sneezed, and I guess some more junk came up and got stuck in the back of his throat, because he threw up again. Not as much as the previous time, mind you, but enough to roll down my newly changed shirt and pants and onto the floor. Luckily, the nurse had called for a janitor to come mop up the mess from Kal's previous vomiting episode and she was on her way over. So, it was another wardrobe change again for both me and Kal. Oh, that little boy... Half of me feels bad for him, and the other half of me wonders if he almost likes to throw up because he gets more attention from his admiring nurses. (Hehe, just kidding about the second half! But, really, he flirts with them all the time, and he's a pretty smart little baby. I wish I could read his thoughts most of the time.)   (;

Third outfit for the day, due to puke-tasrophies. Look at his face, acting all innocent! Haha!

Unfortunately, all of these vomiting spells are part of the course Kal has to go on in this process. Although he already had his transplant, his levels (hemoglobin, white blood cells, platelets, etc.) are still going to continue to drop for a good while. That means vomiting, loss of appetite, worse mouth sores, etc. are still most likely ahead.

On a side note, I really don't think his vomiting recently is nausea related, though, because he is still super happy and feeling fine the rest of the time. Both the nurse and I think it's just more mucous building up in his throat and he chokes on it sometimes, especially while he's eating or taking his medicines. Throw up spells don't phase me so much, as I was used to him doing that a lot at home during his off-and-on ear infections. We can handle it! I'm still so grateful for how well he is doing otherwise.

 

And cue the mucic: "Don't stop... belieeeevin'. Hold on to that feeeeeeling!" Hehehe, I couldn't help it. (;