delay...

Monday, March 30 evening
We're not getting out until Wednesday. They're trying to get private-duty nursing arranged, so they won't let us out until the insurance company approves it and it's all set up. I don't even know if I really want/need it, but I figure I'll give it a try and see what I think, and if I think I'm ok without them, I'll just let them know I don't need them anymore. The only time I think I would need someone to help is when I'm prepping Faith's TPN before I hook her up, and maybe at night to help make sure her feed bag stays full.
Speaking of feeds... We increased Faith's rate to 14 mL/hr today. I think I'm going to ask about maybe introducing a bottle or two during the day, too... Maybe if she got a bottle once or twice, she could have a little time unhooked from the feeding pump, and be completely cordless for a short time every day. It's amazing how good it feels to hold a cordless baby, when you're so used to some kind of tubes all the time.
We got our new feeding pump over the weekend, and the lady came to teach me how it works today. It's a Zevex Infinity, and it is about 500 times nicer than the Kangaroo we had. Even the bags the milk goes in are better. On the Kangaroo bag, the tube coming out of the bottom of the bag came straight out, so you had to sort of loop it to get the bag to go down into the pocket for it in the backpack (which the backpack was actually made for an Infinity, not a Kangaroo, so it really didn't work anyway). The darn thing was always alarming for one reason or another, a lot of times relating to this stupid tube from the bag. On the Infinity bags, the tube coming out the bottom of the bag is actually almost flat/parallel to the bottom of the bag. So putting it into the pocket in the backpack is a breeze, with no worries of kinking tubes and no looping to do.
Also, the lady who came to teach me the pump showed me how to get all the air out of the bag, which makes a HUGE difference (and was one of the other reasons our other pump alarmed all the time) and means there won't be a zillion air big old bubbles in the tube going to Faith's stomach, which means she'll be about a million times more comfortable. They also brought a new backpack with the pump, even though we already had one from the old pump, but it's ok because it has some color to it so it's cuter :) I'm still on the look-out for a bag that can hold her TPN and feed pumps, and both bags, and maybe some of her other stuff too, in an effort to reduce how much stuff I'll actually have to carry. But, we'll be down to just 2 pumps during the day when we're out of here, since the Omegaven runs over 12 hours at night, so it will be a little lighter to carry, at least, even if I do end up just hooking the feed bag to the TPN bag with carabiners, like I was before. A backpack would be nice though, and more comfortable than the 1" webbing the TPN bag strap is made from... I may have to see what I can find next time I'm at Target.
I went to Target today. Heather gave me a ride over her lunch. I'm pretty sure drivers here must not have to take driver's ed before they get licenses. Or maybe it's just hard for them to drive in their rubber rain boots...