Are You a Betting Man?

Anders had a good day. He took 60 mils and 62 mils for us today at his feedings. His feedings no longer have specific times since he went to cue based feedings yesterday. He now needs to take 230 mils in 12 hours rather than 66 mils every 3 hours. His total has gone down, but it is still enough for him to grow. I think he took about 170 of the 230 from the bottle over the last 12 hours. Anders was off to a good start for the next 12 hours with his 62 this evening.
I predict (and I have been wrong about all my predictions with Anders so take it with a grain of salt) that Anders will be discharged on Wed. Oct. 28.
Anders hits his due date tomorrow, which is huge. He now follows the pages and pictures when we read to him. We heard that he would not go to sleep last night after we left. The nurses had to keep feeding him.
Anders managed to pee on himself today. We left the cannon uncovered and he sprayed!
In 1995 Saturday Night Live stars Chris Farley and David Spade released a buddy comedy that tanked at the box office, "Tommy Boy." I am one of the only people you know who saw this movie in the theater. It was Brad and me and a totally empty theater. The plot of the movie is that Tommy's dad dies and then Tommy (Chris Farley) heads out on the road with his dad's employee (Spade) to save the company by selling Callaghan Auto Parts and hilarity ensues. Tommy is a dim-witted screw up. The movie was better the second time, but I was glad they didn't make a sequel before Farley died in 1997.
That lost sequel popped up yesterday in the form of the Fairview Southdale social worker, Tommy Girl. Yes, she looked like Tommy's sister and was just as incompetent. We were trying to figure out if insurance would cover a transfer to Columbus. Instead, she told us we were not in network with our insurance (despite having our bills paid by our insurance into this month). Usually, I am the one who looses it with the screw-ups, but yesterday was Anna's turn. She even telegraphed it for this simple woman, saying "I'm very upset right now." Tommy didn't take the social cue and give any reassurance. She was more than worthless. Tommy Girl was unintentionally maliciously incompetent. She promised to come back with answers to the many questions we had after 5 bad minutes with her. Tommy didn't have the nerve to face us. Rather, she called down to the nurse to say she had found nothing. For the record, I knew she would not return to us despite saying she would. Anna proceeded to visit her in her office before she could slink home to Coon Rapids for the evening. Anna then pulled up Fairview Southdale as "in network" on her computer. Tommy remained noncommittal about that fact. Tommy did not live in the reality-based world. I thought we left creating your own reality in January. Our nurse, Dawn, overheard most of our exchange and wrote up Tommy Girl, so a report was filed with the Nursery and her department. We have requested to have no more contact with her. Our friend Jessica Seeley, a social worker herself, tells us that there are only 2 kinds of social workers, the very good like Rachel at the NICU and the very bad like Tommy Girl.
I don't think it's too early for my Mt. Rushmore of NICU/Special Care Nursery AWFULNESS: Tommy Girl, Old Kathleen, Infant Massage Lady, and Pizza Nurse. Anna would probably put Dr. Speech on the list, but I would just make her an honorable mention.
Mandy and Matt treated us to a fine birthday dinner at an Italian Restaurant in Minneapolis. Before the meal, however, we reenacted "The Chinese Restaurant" from Seinfeld.
Tomorrow we will spend the night at the hospital. They secured a room for us, unless a new mom kicks us out. This is another sign we are nearing the end.