The Problem with Dreams

Chapter 79 - Helping Melody

Susan, Greg and all the family walked very slowly with her back to her room. Richard and Marion left soon after, claiming the need to get back to the twins, but the rest of their guests stayed for the remainder of the afternoon.

"Are you sleeping at home tonight?" Susan asked her husband as they all got ready to leave.

"Yes, but I'm spending tomorrow night with you," Greg told her.

"You'll need to bring me my clothes to go home with you when you come," Susan said.

They spent some time discussing what he should bring. Then Greg left to spend the evening with his family at home.

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Susan did her best to rest during the hours while Greg was gone, though she spent much of the evening with Melody in the nursery. When she finally did go to bed, her night was short. Her milk was finally coming in, and she found herself up in the wee hours of the morning, on her way to the nursery to feed her daughter. She returned to her room for breakfast, to visit briefly with Dr. Daniels and to shower, all of which was part of the hospital's normal morning routine, but she returned to the nursery again as soon as she could.

Melody reacted favorably to Susan's milk coming in and she fed with gusto each time she nursed. She continued to get slightly bluer over time and though it still faded if Susan held her for an extended period of time, it took longer each time she did, suggesting to Susan that her condition was in fact deteriorating.

"There you are," Dr. Bower said as he came in search of Susan that morning.

"Good morning, doctor. Do you need to see Melody?" Susan asked as she looked down at the baby in her arms.

"I already did, earlier this morning while you were having breakfast. I was hoping to speak with you Susan. I looked for you in your room and the nurse told me you were here. We must have passed one another somehow," Dr. Bower said kindly.

"It sounds like it," Susan agreed.

"Your nurse tells me you're being discharged tomorrow," Dr. Bower said.

"That's what they tell me, although with Melody here, I'll probably be spending most of my time here anyways," Susan told him.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Dr. Bowers began. "So far Melody's umbilical IV is holding up remarkably well. It's enabled us to give her some additional nutrition while your milk was coming in. We're planning to continue that for as long as we can, though I don't expect we'll be able to much beyond this time tomorrow, maybe a few hours longer, but that will be stretching it. She'll still need her diuretics, but I'm hoping we can switch her to an oral medication beginning on Tuesday if she's doing well after the surgery. The reason I'm bringing this up, is we'd like to continue supplementing her nutritionally as well. In addition to your breast milk, I'm prescribing a high calorie formula for her. We'll be switching to that as soon as the umbilical option fails. I wanted you to be aware."

"Do you think she'll go home on that?" Susan asked.

"More than likely. What this means for you is that although you can continue nursing her, and that would be the best of both worlds for Melody, you won't need to give her all her feedings yourself. While she's in the hospital, that means you won't need to be here to feed her in the middle of the night. That will probably make things a little easier on you," Dr. Bower said.

"Probably," Susan agreed looking down at the baby in her arms. "I don't suppose there is any news on the tests you sent?"

"Not yet. Those kinds of results take a full week to get back, but the probability is we will find some kind of genetic abnormality," Dr. Bower told her as gently as he could. He studied the expression on Susan's face. "You suspected that already."