She knows what she wants.

Ooooh, girlfriend.

Shaughnessy was in pretty fine form today. When I got to the hospital my mom was already there (because I was late, for shame) and told me that it had taken TWO nurses to get the CPAP back on her little granddaughter after she'd had it off, so mightily did she fight it. And after it was on she smooshed her face against her blankets and knocked it right back off her nose again.

She spent the rest of the day battling her CPAP and her feeding tube. Erin A. came for a quick visit as well and while she was sitting there with me the nurse let me hold Shaughnessy for a bit. Not Kangaroo Care; just cradled in my arms in her head hugger. Well, little miss thang got seriously overwrought about the CPAP at that point and began twisting her head back and forth against the sides until the prongs were out of her nose and the hat part was askew. Then she worked her feeding tube out of the tape on her chin (tape which she'd already ripped free a couple of times) and they had to stop her feed and take the CPAP off, she was such a grouchy, growly mess.

After that, she calmed down and was a lovely little sweetie for the rest of Erin's visit. She (Shaughnessy; not Erin) did spend some time rooting around against the side of her head-hugger hoping to find a boob to nurse on but had no luck since it's a head-hugger and I was also fully clothed. I hate to see her rooting and not be allowed to try to nurse her yet, but they all say it's still too early. So: no nursing. And she pretty much slept and muttered the rest of the time.

When I say she's growly I mean it, though. She makes an awesome crabby little grunty growl noise when she's displeased. It's very particular to her and definitely means she's about to pitch a fit of some sort if what's bugging her isn't taken care of. They've taken to swaddling her pretty tightly in her blankets and head hugger when they want to be entirely sure the CPAP stays on and that does seem to calm her down some, which is understandable. Infants and preemies in particular respond well to swaddling as a calming device. So the growlies can be tempered that way after she realizes she can't move her arms too easily. It's when she's free to move her limbs that she really goes to town.

I held her again before coming home. Mom and Erin had both left and I was waiting for Andrew to arrive when the nurse asked if I wanted to do Kangaroo Care. Of course I did, and Shaughnessy again spent a little while rooting around with her mouth on my chest trying to find a meal. Poor baby. I'm going to point it out to the nurses next time and see if they'll bump up the intro to nursing schedule for her since she's obviously trying to get to the head of the class.

Despite all of the above, she really is a very peaceful baby when she wants to be: