And now, for something completely different

Este post va en inglés a pedido de mis resobrinos (los hijos de la
hermana del esposo de mi hermana). Algunas cosas (llamadas “llamadas”)
están en español, y mañana seguimos en espánish (con llamadas en
ingléi).

It’s been a long day, so I hope I get all my facts straight. If
not, at least you’ll get the general impression.

Today being Saturday I was able to go with Lorena to all her
extractions. That means leaving for the hospital shortly before half
past eight, and going from our flat at the top red dot in the map,
down across the heart of town (which can be chaotic at that time,
although less so than on weekdays) and out again the other side to the
hospital at the bottom red dot.

The lactario, as they call the special room where mums go and
extract their milk, is inside the pediatric intensive care unit, which
includes neonatology. As Lorena goes in, I have to ring the bell for
neonatology and wait (trying to make myself seen just in case they
forget I’m impatient to see my babies). Today they saw me and warned
me I’d have to wait, so I went outside to the waiting room and chatted
with another dad who was waiting too. Half an hour later Lore came
out, and we waited a while longer; the other dad was called in but we
had to wait a bit longer before being called in as well. Once inside
Lore washed and robed up, and we were having a word about how Joaquín
actually had colour in his skin today, when a nurse told us rather
brusquely that I’d have to wash and robe up if I wanted to be with the
baby. It seems this made give her the “I know, stoopid” look, but I
wasn’t aware of it at the time; Lore tried to explain what the nurse
had tried to tell me which only made matters worse: it seems I was
grumpy, or just fed up with all the waiting. Anyway I went and started
washing, but I had only just gotten my arms wet when a nurse told us
we’d have to leave (visiting for parents to neonatology has no
timetable, only certain conditions that have to be met; this means we
can go in at any time, but might have to leave at any time also). I’m
afraid I left in a bit of a huff, and went outside to the balcony to
cool down. I guess Lore isn’t the only one who has her feelings closer
to the surface these days. Anyhow, Lore tracked me down and we
talked/sobbed over the unfairness of it all for a while, then went
back to the neo waiting room, where the other dad and his wife were
waiting and they mentioned, it being a quarter to ten, that if they
didn’t let us in by half past ten we’d probably have to wait until
eleven, because the nurses changed shifts at that time. Seeing as how
we’d forgotten some stuff back at home, and we’d have to be back at
about half eleven for the next extraction, we decided to go rather
than wait and get all worked up in the waiting room. We did that, and
when we got back at half past eleven we were able to go straight in,
Lore to the lactario and I to see the boys. Only a short visit
because we were meeting up with Lore’s newphews for lunch, but still
it was very nice to be with the boys for a while, and the doctor who
was there was able to tell me that Joaquín is now weighing 1030g, up
30g from yesterday, so although it’s a bit early to tell, this in
combination with him having colour again does make it seem as though
the medicine they’re giving him is working it’s magic. I probably
ought to start tracking their weight more…

For lunch, we met up with all of Lore’s side of the (nuclear) family,
including nephews whom she hadn’t seen in a while and was
missing. After lunch we headed back to the hospital for the 3 o’clock;
we had a little trouble with the car in the parking lot, due to the
parking paper falling out the bottom of where I (thought I) had put
it, but anyway we were able to get to the hospital only shortly after
three. The boys were fine, and in general an uneventful visit (in
comparison), and we went home for a quick siesta.

When we got there at 6 Dori (Lore’s best friend) was waiting for
us, and we sat down to chat for a while because the lactario
was full. Clarisa came out and told us we could go in, and Lore was
about to go to the lactario when Clarisa told her that she
should go to be with the boys first, because Pedro was already changed
into his clothes (which means we get to hold him in our arms for a
while).

We obviously did as suggested, and Lore held Pedro and talked
to him and kissed him and generally drooled over him, while I tried to
do the same with Joaquín; this was a bit more difficult for me because
of the incubator, but I think I managed fairly well, considering.

After half an hour it was my turn with Pedro, so I hung up my gown,
washed up again, and did a three-point switch with Lore, Pedro,
Clarisa, and the gown Lore had on, so that at the end I was wearing
the gown that Lore had, and I was holding Pedro, but at no time had
neither Lore nor I held Pedro without the gown.

Anyway, I held Pedro,
and Lore went off to the lactario before she burst, and came
back half an hour later, was with Joaquín for a while, talking to him
(something I find much harder to do), and I still held Pedro;
I was all cramped up but it was so beautiful just holding him,
sometimes talking to him a bit, sometimes singing odd bits of songs,
or looking at him, or just thinking about stuff with him in my
arms. Indescribably beautiful.

We were ready to go, it seems, or at least it was time to put Pedro
back into the incubator, and as I was holding him it was my turn to
put him in, and change him out of his out-of-the-incubator
clothes. For some reason I found it a lot easier than I’d thought it
would be, and easier than Lore found it the day before; maybe it’s
because I’m a natural, or maybe because there was nothing to it, and I

was told step by step what to do, and the clothes were easier than
yesterday’s to take off. Lore says the latter, but I think the former
has some minuscule probability of being true, so I’ll stick with it.

Last week at some point Lore had been in neo and she had mentioned
that she’d better leave because her mother was outside and was
probably getting antsy, and the nurse had looked around neo and said
that Elena could come in to see them, which she did, and was obviously
very pleased with it. This was a grade A military secret until today,
when we asked the nurse and she said that if Mummy went along for the
9 o’clock, and everything was quiet, she could go in. We told her, and
she did, and it was, so she did, and I’m not sure what she thought of
it but she seemed to get all wobbly around the knees when she saw
Joaquín, and told Clarisa that I slept in exactly the same posture
Pedro was in, and the only comment I heard from her on the way out was
“they’re so tiny!” or words to that effect. Lore says she then said
more afterwards, but I didn’t hear it. I do know she seemed a lot
happier on going out than on going in, so it can’t have been that
bad. In fact, I’m pretty sure she loved it.

On the way out Lore admitted to having a headache, and she aught to be
keeping an eye on her pressure but she hasn’t been doing so yesterday
and today, and it was a long day full of all kind of exciting things,
so we stopped by emergency to take her pressure. After sitting down
quietly for ten minutes in a darkish corridor her pressure was 14/10,
which is a lot, so she had to take a pressure pill. Tomorrow we’ll
probably do a lot less, and take things slower, but it certainly was
nice to do so much today!

Trivia & Corrigenda

Antes que contarle las cosas de hoy, me saco algunas cosas que tengo pendientes:

• Averigué lo que es un “zip-up”: es un “C-PAP“

.

• Lore me dijo que le habían dicho que “la caca estaba más mocosa”; yo esto lo entendí como que había moco en la caca, pero aparentemente se refería a la consistencia, no a la composición. No al pedo la escatología es una ciencia.

mixed spices

Cuando llego esta noche a neo (Lore pasa primero por el lactario) me encuentro con Pedro con gorra, saquitos, pantalón, y botas. Clarisa, una de las enfermeras, se apareció desde cuidados intermedios y dijo, en broma, que ya casi lo estaba por descambiar porque pensaba que no íbamos; decía esto mientras acercaba una silla. Eso sólo podía querer decir una cosa, y la miré con cara de estúpido como para confirmar, y afirmó con la cabeza.

Sonriendo, casi silbando, me lavé las manos y me puse la bata mientras ella lo sacaba de la incubadora, y ella acomodó a Pedro en mis brazos en cuanto me pude sentar.
Como media hora después apareció Lore, y al ratito le tocó a ella.

Mientras Lore estaba con Pedro yo me fui a verlo a Joaquín, pero no pude estar con él inmediatamente porque justo tocaba que lo acomodaran todas las cosas.

Aproveché para sacarle una foto a Clarisa, que es desde mi punto de vista la mejor enfermera de neonatología. Soy totalmente subjetivo, es claro: no tengo ni idea, objetivamente, cómo es como enfermera desde el punto de vista médico; no disparó alarmas inculcadas por Mummy, pero más allá de eso nada. Sí sé, en cambio, que le importa no sólo que el bebé esté bien, cosa que le importa mucho (al punto de dar vuelta media enfermería para encontrar el bigote que le quedara cómodo a Joaquín, por ejemplo), sino además se preocupa sinceramente por el bienestar de los padres, y por la relación de los padres con sus hijos. Más de esto en un rato.

Así estaba Joaquín hoy, después de que Clarisa encontrara el bigote cómodo para su nariz (la de Joaquín). Está muy pálido, con el “zip-up“, y le están dando antibióticos porque si bien el primer análisis no dio nada, tiene moco en la caca (¡hace caca! ¿no sabían?). Parece que no reaccionó al primer ibuprofeno, y si para el domingo no ha reaccionado, ya estamos hablando de la operación. Sin embargo los galenos creen que la desmejoría no es por el ductus sino por la infección, y que además es la infección que le está reabriendo el ductus.

Mientras yo hablaba con Joaquín y le contaba toda la gente que le mandaba deseos de que mejorara, Lore se dio cuenta de que estaba realmente muy cansada, y dijo que quería irse. Clarisa le dijo que bueno, que pusiera a Pedro de vuelta en la incubadora y lo descambiara. Lore primero no lo podía creer, y después se dio cuenta de que no tenía ni idea de cómo hacerlo, a lo que Clarisa le fue indicando cómo hacer. Yo no entendía por qué le costaba tanto a Lorena, que cambiaba chicos en el oscuro, cambiarlo a Pedro; ella después me explicó que siempre los ha cambiado de frente, y no de costado, y que la limitación de sus movimientos que le impone la incubadora empeoraba las cosas. Para mí que se abatató de la chochera, nomás.