Cluster Care

Although I certainly have not felt like there has been any sense of "routine" around here lately, my little boy is very much in a regular routine.  Everything pretty much revolves around his feeding schedule.  (Although sometimes it gets thrown off if he has a test or something done).  His schedule starts at 8, and then he gets fed every three hours, around the clock.

Because he is still trying to grow and develop, everything is very sensitive.  His nervous system is still very immature, so too much stimulation (touching, picking up, moving around, etc.) can delay his progress or cause damage down the road.  In order to minimize this, the nurses do what is called cluster care.  This means right before every feeding, the nurse opens up his bed and does whatever needs to be done all at once.  Usually this entails taking his temperature, changing his diaper, rearranging him, or rearranging cords and monitors (sometimes my poor baby gets tangled in them).  Once that's done, he's tucked back in so he can be fed and go back to sleep.  The rest of the time, he stays in his bed asleep and we and the nurses try not to disturb him.    

Now that I know his schedule, and am somewhat on the same schedule (including pumping when I would normally be feeding him), I am able to visit and help take care of everything before he gets fed.  Today I was able to take his temperature (which was right where it was supposed to be), and change a VERY poopy diaper.  It is quite a challenge to change him, because not only does he squirm (and get poop on my hand in the process, YAY!), but there are so many cords, I have to be very careful not to pull them out, or get the diaper stuck to them.  But that's ok.  I finally feel like I am able to do something (besides dropping off bags of milk), rather than feeling completely helpless.  Eventually, when I can begin holding him more to start bonding, I will be able to go in the hour before he eats and hold him, then go through the regular routine, then tuck him back in to sleep and eat.   

We did break his routine a little bit, however, to get just a few pictures.  Maybe these will help you see just how small my little guy is right now!