Day 8: a full day

This is her favorite position.

 

Today's highlights were feeding and holding Shayna for the first time, a longer visit from Nahum, and another night of rest thanks to Michael.

I should start off by thanking Michael for doing night duty last night so I could get one more night of sleep.  Shayna still just needs an advocate and observer with a little help (mainly to help manage her pain as the nurses are generally afraid to treat pain) and not specifically me yet.  I used that to get another 7hr night sleep.  Michael had great luck with the nurse practitioner on duty last night as far as she was very attentive of Shayna's signals and observant of her needs.

Shayna was cleared for food by mouth by her surgeons this morning so at 7:30 I gave her her first ounce of breast milk in a week.  Boy was she grateful.  I made sure the nurse got us a slow flow nipple so she wouldn't wolf down the milk which turned out to be a very good thing.  She had to work harder for the ounce but she didn't give herself a bellyache by eating to fast after not eating for a week.  We have to take it slow for that reason and the fact that they slice and re-attach her small intestines for the Kasai.  She could have an ounce every 3 hours.  Since she tolerated that really well the nurse just told me we can up it to 1.5oz/2hrs.  She still gets food by vein too.

I got to hold her for the first time this morning and again this afternoon which was wonderful.  I was thankful for the previous experience at the end of June.  While her current state is about 8-1/2 times worse, I was much more comfortable handling her.  She's like any of us in pain.  She doesn't want to move from the comfortable position she found but needs to move to promote healing.  We still rotate her between a slight lean, flat on back, to a slight lean the other way to keep her from getting bed sores (alone with some other tricks).  Holding her is just a new position and the movement she grimaces at to get there is needed too.

Nahum is getting much stronger.  He went shopping with Hilary at Whole Food visited Shayna and I for 1-1/2hrs.  He even got around the hospital without a wheel chair and is losing his shuffling gate.  It's great the see such significant improvement.  Keep up the good work Nahum.  Tomorrow he's supposed to get us a menorah and candles for Hanukkah.  I can't light the candles but I can at least put them in to mark the days.  There are some great neighborhood stores a block or two from the house for this.