Thursday / Friday, 8-9 Dec

Doing a combined posting since Dad didn't get around to uploading pictures from Thursday until 10 p.m. on Friday. (he claims it's finals week and he has a lot to do; I claim that if I can eat, digest, breathe, and grow all at the same time he can find 10 minutes to upload some pictures!)

Anyhow, let's get to it....

Thursday Dec 8th

I'm continuing to put on weight - up to 4 lb. 8.4 oz.Not too shabby, huh?

Not much to report today.  Dad came by in the afternoon and held me:

... and then after that put me back in my bed.  I was a little fussy so he gave me my paci which calmed me right down.

Mom came by later in the day for my 5 p.m. feeding.  I had a gigantic poop when she changed me (just wanted to prove my digestive system was working like gangbusters), and was wide awake so she did some breastfeeding with me.  I was starving so I scarfed it down as if I was never going to get to eat again, but after taking about 10 ml I realized that was tiring me out so gave it a rest.  Not ready to give up just yet, Mom gave me a bottle then and I obligingly took about another 20 ml that way (then had a good burp!), and by that time I was pooped (no pun intended!) so they gavaged the rest of my feeding.  Pretty fancy, huh?  (get it?  breast, bottle, tube - it's like a three-course meal!  okay, maybe that doesn't quite work...)

After all that Mom got to hold me for awhile which was nice after I got over some initial confusion about what we were doing - but that was her fault, she held me low like I was supposed to be breastfeeding again so I didn't know if I was expected to eat or what so i just gave her a confused look until she realized what the issue was and put me in a more normal "holding" position.

Wow, a lot happened Thursday!  But the week wasn't quite over...

Friday Dec 9th

TGIF!

Put on another 3 ounces (give or take - the weighing system here is a little suspect since it seems to depend on whether I've just eaten, what I'm wearing, the mood of the person weighing me, and so on....) to 4 lb. 10 oz.

Mom and Dad both came for my 2 p.m. feeding, and Mom tried breastfeeding me:

Based on weighing me before and after they guessed I took about 8 ml then gave me the rest through my tube.  I'm really trying to get better at the breastfeeding, but it's a lot of work and honestly I've got on my plate already so sometimes that's just too much trouble to bother with.  But I do at least try and take a little since I know it makes Mom feel good when I do.

After Mom was done, Dad held me for a good while - maybe an hour or so - while Mom tried breastfeeding Ben (as usual, I was more successful than he was - girl power!  Twenty bucks says I'm ready to go home first - in fact, it's a poorly kept secret that I was ready to move over to Special Care a few days earlier than we did but had to wait for him to catch up).

I was fast asleep by the time Dad put me back, but don't I look cute in my crib?

I did a gavage at my next feeding but then for the 11 p.m. one Dad gave me a bottle and (surprise, surprise) I took almost the whole thing (as if you had any doubt!).  Only had about 10 ml left that I needed to get through my tube, which is not bad when you consider that I was pretty much asleep for the whole feeding.

Oh, and one other thing to report: at my final diaper change of the evening I played a nice little trick on Dad (though not as good as the one Ben did today, it was also not as much of a mess!). So I was in the middle of making a poop when it was time for my diaper change, and Dad could hear it (and see my face turning red - note to self: need to work on that) so he waited till I was finished to change me.  Then I waited until after he had the diaper open and had wiped me to let some gas go!  It made a noise and freaked him out since he thought I was going to poop all over while my diaper was open, but of course I have enough self-control not to do that.  It was funny though!