(please see the update at the end of this article)
I have a new *job*. It’s called going to the hospital. It reminds me why I’m glad I don’t have a regular job. I feel trapped somehow, going and staying any place for any length of time. Unless, of course, I’m hanging out with friends. :)

Anyway, Yasha was put back on the canula last night because of the blasted secretions. If I never hear that word again, it will be too soon! She was still on it today, but when I left the hospital just before noon, she was breathing room air from it. If the nurse could suction enough secretions, Yasha could go off the canula.

Yasha has OT. I think it’s occupational therapy, not physical therapy. From what I remember when Mommy had both, I think OT has to do with smaller movements, like hands and arms, whereas PT has to do with walking, etc. But don’t take my word for it. . .

Denise, the Occupational Therapist came and examined Yasha last week or so. She said that the baby grips her fists too tight, and she doesn’t like that she tucks her thumbs in. I had thought how clever to have a baby born knowing how to do that–shows you what I know. Denise told me to carefully pull her fingers out and then hold her thumb up and out, massaging the muscle at the base of the thumb.

Try doing that while holding the baby just so that her air passage is opened perfectly, and she is screaming, and closing her eyes, face turing red. . .Now we are glad to hear that she can cry, in fact, we want her to cry long and hard like the other children did, but I can’t tell whether she’s in pain or angry here.

I had thought that by Friday her hands would have been loosened up enough that she wouldn’t need splints. But, alas, Denise and her assistant were making splints for Yasha when I got to my *job* Friday morning. Yasha gets to wear these lovely splints for four hours, then have them off for four hours, and so on. I was there long enough yesterday to take them off, and her hands were pretty open then.

Another thing to work on is the fact that Yasha likes to turn her head to one side exclusively. So, Curtis and I get to find creative ways to get her to turn her head to the other side. We hold her on the opposite side, and when she turns her head, we gently hold it in the position we’re trying to encourage. She is a strong, feisty baby. That is both encouraging, and challenging.

I think the improvement in this area is very slight; she is looking at us on this new, uncomfortable side, but she really relaxes better on the other side.

Yasha also has a tight jaw. (Boy, she sounds more like me by the second!) The treatment for this is reaching in her mouth and massaging her gums. I have seen the most improvement here. Her jaw was looser today, and she even had her mouth open all by herself. We are able to work with a pacifier from this position, and I was able to get the bottle in her mouth for the swallow study from working with her jaw. She sucks your finger and the pacifier a little bit when you work on this, which is huge. It is encouraging to see progress in this area.

The other occupational therapy exercise is pulling her arms up. Yasha tends to hold her arms very stiff–(I feel her)–and pulling her arms up supposedly relaxes this. She howls about this exercise, too, but I alternate it with games of drive the fire truck, the wheels on the bus, and Curtis’ game, 1, 2, 3, 4. She doesn’t complain as much when I make it a game.

I also try to work with her legs, but what with all the leads and pulse oxygen cords, it is harder to get at her legs. Not to mention the fact that she prefers being swaddled.

So, the hours at the hospital fly by. I play OT with the baby. I annoint her head with oil and pray. I sit and marvel at her beautiful baby face. I try to calm her and help her fall asleep. I fight with pulse ox readings on the beeping monitor. I change her diaper. I give her baths. I go pump milk. I listen to doctors’ orders and recommendations. And I get a glimpse of NICU nurse life.

Too bad I can’t blog while I’m there. . .

Well, it’s after 3. Time to go back to work.

Update: When I went back to see Yasha in the 4 o’clock hour, she was not wearing the canula. She was also breathing on her own when Curtis and I returned at 11:30 PM. She was still breathing on her own when we left after midnight! Halleluia!