For the first month of her life, Chloe ate fine. Then it went downhill, FAST! This is typical with CHD babies. One of the first signs of a heart defect is poor eating/poor weight gain. It takes so much effort for heart babies to suck, swallow, breathe that it becomes too much for them. That’s why Chloe stopped eating altogether. So our only option was to feed Chloe via the NG tube.
After she spent the first two weeks of her life in the NICU, Chloe was re-admitted at one month for failure to thrive. That is when they put in the NG tube. The hospital has a policy that one parent needs to learn how to insert the tube before discharge. My immediate response? Teach my husband. There was no way I was going to do that to my Chloe-cakes! It was hard enough watching the nurses put it in, with Chloe screaming like crazy! And how could I possibly do that while I am sobbing like crazy just watching?
So it was time for Chad to learn. I, of course, was very nervous. See, the nurses usually get it in the first time. I was worried about Chloe having to suffer for too long while Chad learned how to do this. Here is how the conversation went:
Me: How many times are you gonna try?
Hubs: As many as it takes.
Me: How many times are you gonna try? (yes, I repeated the question)
Hubs: Twice.
Me: So what if you don’t get it in the first time?
Hubs: I will try again.
Me: And what if the second time doesn’t work?
Hubs: Then the nurse can do it.
Me: How long will you keep trying the second time until you let the nurse do it?
Hubs: I don’t know.
I’m sure you all can relate that when your child is in pain, time stands still. What is really 1 minute feels like 10 minutes. That’s exactly how I felt when my hubby made his first attempt with the NG tube.
I, of course, started crying before he started. Just having to hold her head down was so painful for me. Then Chad started and I swear it took him 10 minutes with the first attempt (really 10 seconds). Then he actually started asking the nurse what he did wrong, which is a totally acceptable thing to do, however NOT when Chloe-cakes is freaking out and we are still holding her down! So after his ten minute discussion with the nurse (really 10 seconds), he tried again. He was still having trouble and after 10 minutes of him trying again (really 10 seconds), I started screaming at the nurse “OKAY! HE SAID HE’D ONLY TRY TWICE! YOU CAN DO IT NOW! DO IT NOW!”
And that was our first experience with the NG tube.
We left the hospital without “proving” we could put in the NG tube, but my salesman of a husband convinced the nurses he could do it at home. And he was right. A week after we got home, Chloe pulled it out and Chad put it back in on the first try. And every other time she pulled it out or threw it up, Chad got it in on the first try. We became a team. I would swaddle Chloe so her arms weren’t flailing everywhere, I would have the tape ready and hold her head. We worked well together.
And since my hubby travels and is gone alot, I had to suck it up and learn how to do it. You know what? I got it in on the first try! You know why? Because we do what we have to do for our kids, no matter how painful it is to us.