China Guy, you could change your user name to The Milk Man
Serena is not eating that well. It’s a little strange. Actually in the morning when she is awake, she can suck down a full ration. When i tried to feed her last night (first time i got to hold her and feed her :)), she clamped on for about 10 seconds and then lost interest. Also, whilst doctors are decent and doing the best they can, it is a factory operation to take care of 120 newbies in the ICU. So bit hard to say if her suckling action is too weak or if Serena isn’t awake/hungry enough/getting the right attention to feed much of the time.
Chinamom today also went with me and held Serena for the first time for an hour. Chinamom feels much better as Serena was really sleepy but interactive. Chinamom also talked to a buddy from high school who is now a neonatal nurse in LA. Put to rest a lot of fears and apprehensions, and will hopefully not be haunted tonight.
We arranged with the ICU and the foreign clinic for some ‘feeding therapy’. I hope it works and doesn’t start a lifetime of therapy. The ICU just doesn’t have enough staff, so I hope this extra attention will do the trick. As soon as serena able to eat enough, then she ca come home.
ChinaGuy It is very easy to think dreadful and awful things at this point. But you have to remember that babies are extremely resilient creatures. Also, they tired out very easy. It is very hard work just laying there trying to focus on their world, flapping arms about. Babies are usually most alert ( at least mine were) at 3am.
Make sure you have the phone available to Chinamom for her to call her LA nursing friend at any time. What a comfort that must be for her.
How is #1 child doing with all this chaos?
Big Fat Loads of Good Wishes from Moi.
I just want to second this bit of reassurance. It’s not a guarantee, and in your place I’d find it cold comfort, indeed, however it is still true. Don’t give up hope.
And of course, you and all your family are still in my prayers.
You’ve seen Meet The Fockers, haven’t you?
I haven’t seen Meet the Fokkers. I made that up all by my onesie. 
You and Chinawife are doing a great job. Keep hanging in there! It’s great that you’re at that hospital so often, that’s the best you can do for little Serena right now & you’re doing it.
I don’t know if my anecdote will help, but here goes anyway.
My son had trouble feeding as well. At first he had one of those in-the-nose tubes, and we’d try to bottle feed him during our visits (plus I offered him breast a couple of times IIRC). It seemed to tire him out quickly. He got a little better at feeding, but then after 4 days stalled and started getting worse. The doctors did another round of tests (including a spinal tap!) and concluded that the only thing that made sense is he must have pneumonia. They never found it on an X-ray, and the blood tests weren’t strongly indicative, but there had to be an explanation for his lack of improvement.
After just a couple of days on antibiotics my son improved quite a bit. Once he’d had a full course of meds they sent him home - his feeding was still wobbly at the time. Of course I was petrified. The nurses had lectured my husband on keeping to a 3-hour feeding schedule, but I thought that was horsehockey & home should be different from the hospital. I just fed on demand, one ounce or two, every 45 minutes if necessary. He cried, I responded. Actually he cried quite a bit when he was first hime, which seemed to make sense since it was a drastic change. He was taking a lot of air for a while & we used Mylicon drops for a week or two. Then he figured it out. He’d suck-suck-suck-breathe, suck-suck-suck-breathe. It just took him a little while to get there.
Now - at 11 months - he’s an Amazon boy! Was 5 lb 13 oz at birth, but since about 3 months he’s been in the 90th percentile for height! No feeding or sleeping problems whatsoever - in fact, he’s less finicky than his sister on both counts. And to tell you the truth, I hadn’t thought about how difficult his first weeks were in months, not until I read your thread!
milkman just back from dropping off last night production as well as a soother. head doc yesterday said a soother might help.
apologies if my last post sounded depressed. actually feel good and my wifes worst case fears seem to have abated.
i’m a simple guy, if Serena can suck down a decent amount of milk 1-2x per day, then she ought to be able to do that more often if we can figure out the “secret”. Be it a different schedule, frequency, nipple, etc.
this afternoon we have arranged for the foreign clinic for a nurse (and the pediatrician volunteered on his day off) to spend a few hours on trying to figure out the nursing. the nurse will come in every day for a week if necessary. i hope we can get Serena home before the weekend.
eldest daughter china bambina is doing grest. an excellent big sister at 4.5 years old.
I’m at the hospital tapping this out on my pda. Serena is serenely asleep. Yesterday the nurse and pediatrician (on his day off) and I spent about 90 minutes trying to get her to suckle. 5-10 times she started with about 4 sucks, and then lost interest and went slack jawed. Also dribbled in milk and she would swallow when it pooled. Altogether we got about 20 cc (not quite an ounce) down the hatch.
the head nurse said Serena barely did any sucking this morning.
My sister in law and serena’s aunt may have nailed this thing. This morning on the phone she suggested tickling the roof of Serena’s mouth. I tried that and Serena immediately started to suckle on my finger. Serena did the same to the nurse so I know I wasn’t halucinating.
The nurse, who is a dedicated Angel, hit the magic suck spot 7 times tonight. In the right spot you can see Serena suckle 7-8 times, swallow and then go slack jawed for a rest. We’re just not able to hit the magic suck spot enough. Trial and error. Plus I am going on the shanghai nipple hunt or will figure out how to make one by tomorrow’s feeding therapy…stay tuned.
YAY! Serena!
One thing, if she is going from breast to bottle to breast, she may be getting Nipple Confusion. Insert applicable joke here.
No joke, though. Women who have nursed, is it not true that the transition times even for gusto-type suckers is difficult? To move from only breast to both, to just bottle, from body milk to formula, etc…even in the breast of circumstances ( small smile ) isn’t it hard for a baby to handle?
ChinaGuy, find very long bottle nipples, and ones that don’t flare as much near the cap mechanism. Buy a ton- and buy silicone ones if you can. Try boiling one and turning the angle of the nipple up slightly, then plunging it into cool water to set that new shape. You may well wind up custom-making ones that touch the nerve endings that seem to be her stimulii centers.
** Yay Serena !!! ** again.
All right Serena!
You go, ChinaGuy!
Shanghai Nipple Hunt - that one’s truly memorable!
Wasn’t that a Jackie Chan movie?
Thanks so much for the updates. We’re all rooting for her!
Go Serena Go!
And tell Daddy to start posting pictures of you and your sis so we can see your adorable little faces.
I went in this afternoon and Serena was wide awake, and maybe even waiting for her third session. She even acted like a normal baby instead of being lethargic or asleep.
those fine folks at NUK make a premie nipple. Tried that for 10 minutes. Serena latched on and suckled 3 times for 10cc and then lost interest. The head of the neonatal ICU came over with two rehab doctors. We had a discussion and decided to try feeding by squirting 1 cc at a time and letting her swallow.
40 minutes later Serena had sucked down 50 cc without choking! Agreed with the head doc that we will first suckle for 15 minutes and then squirt in the milk. Do this for a few days and prove it works on a sustainable basis and she can come home!!! The western pediatrician was pretty surprised and his opinion is as long as Serena can feed efficiently then that’s great.
The head nurse found a different nipple yesterday, and will try that today as well. Also the rehab docs are going to give her some therapy as well.
For the first time I see light at the end of the tunnel. My wife has not been haunted at night for the past few nights. I’m even going to spam my address book this weekend and tell everyone what’s going on. i’ll post pix when all my girls are home.
Why, the little imp. My niece would curl up her tongue and suck on it, so it took a while for the SIL to figure out she wasn’t swallowing milk, just her own saliva. So, SIL pumped and got the milk into the baby that way.
So, you have to find her tickle spot to get her to nurse. Can she breast feed okay, or are you bottle feeding?
Good luck…hopefully you’ve got her figured out!
Oooooo! Pictures! I can’t wait!
Now, in giving us our due for being there every step of the way and in some cases, spending a time off-boards thinking about The Chinette and sending good thoughts and prayers her way, it seems only appropriate that your offer of photos includes both baby and breast.
How else can the tale be told?
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ Chinette }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} I’m so gladdened to hear that she’s turning a major corner !! Please keep us posted and yes, ( seriously ) share photos !
Your Doper Family need pictures. We demand it!
And because I am a forgetful auntie, are the Chinette’s Identical or Fraternal Order of the Eagles? I think with the latter they come out wearing fez’s.
Wow. I missed this thread up until now!
So, I’m sending my belated congratulations and good wishes for all of you.
And someone who eagerly followed your baby naming thread, I’m thrilled you chose those names. (But Serena will always be Apgar to me. :p) Naming a baby is difficult, so I’m always curious about how people deal with choosing names that work across cultures.
One question–in cases like yours, where one twin is in the NICU and the other isn’t, do they ever bring in the other twin to visit? I wonder if that would have therapeutic value.
Now, please give China Bambina a big hug and kiss for me. Audrey and Serena are so lucky to have her.