Spot Dose = Nightmare

 As of Thursday, the NICU stopped the morphine. Malachi had done so well on the weening that they did not anticipate too much of an issue and thought he might be ready to come home on Friday. Well, he had a really hard Thursday night. He was extra irritated and was difficult to console. 

On Friday, when the nurses evaluated, of course, they decided he was not ready to go home just yet. My husband took the day off in anticipation that we'd be bringing him home. So, we just enjoyed the day, worked on some stuff for Malachi and then headed to the hospital later in the evening. By that time, the hospital had decided to give Malachi a spot dose of morphine. Big mistake. Big. HUGE. 

In an effort to see what was happening at night - since Malachi seemed mostly fine during the days - I decided to stay Friday night with him. What a nightmare!!!! Even after the spot dose of morphine, he could NOT. BE. CONSOLED. The nurse, who had never cared for him, basically left me alone to deal with the non-stop crying and chaos. She would always pop in as soon as he quieted for the moment. Malachi did not sleep for longer than 15 min which means I also did not sleep. I tried to lay down and close my eyes just to breath and then he would resume crying. 

Saturday morning around 7, I decided to leave him crying and head downstairs to get a snack for breakfast. The nurse - who had been my nemesis (Lisa) - came on shift and in the 20-ish min I was gone, she had come in and put him to sleep. It was finally quiet. I laid down on the couch for about 20 min until I heard the doctors huddling and discussing Malachi outside the room door. I stepped out and saw Lisa and the rest of the NICU staff. Remember, I had no sleep and my nerves were shot from the night - so I was super emotional. They said he would not be coming home just yet and they wanted to monitor him through Saturday and Saturday night.

Husband came around 8 or so with breakfast and we stayed for a bit longer. Then left to go home and get some sleep (he didn't sleep much at home either the night before). I called the hospital later in the afternoon once we were up to speak with Lisa and see how he'd been. Husband was considering staying the night with him. Lisa said he had been pretty good, but of course, the nights are the worst. We went to the hospital and, since it had been over 24 hours since the spot dose of morphine, Malachi seemed more like himself. Husband decided not to stay and we just hoped the baby would have a decent night.