A good plan

We did it again!

Yes, my 2nd attempt at nursing was actually successful. It actually might have been a little too successful because they were gavage feeding him about 32cc while we practiced- AND he nursed for a good 15 minutes. And he was swallowing quite a bit, so I'm pretty sure he was getting a fair amount of milk from the breast. He actually spit up about 4 times. Not a lot, maybe a cc or two each time, but I think he was actually just too full.

It went really well. Again- he opened up immediately and rooted. If the nip would slip out, he'd grunt in frustration. GIVE THAT BACK! and he'd latch right back on again. After about 15 minutes, he started to doze off but was happily snuggled into the boob.

Again, he slept HARD afterward for a good long while. They tell me the nursing process released some happy hormones that make us both feel good. Whatever it is- it's nice.

He did gain a little bit last night. I think it ended up being about 20 or 25 grams. (There was a bit of a fiasco where we thought he'd gained 2 ounces and then realized we'd weighed him with a poopy diaper on. Oops.)

It was a fun day, really. He made me a little nervous because he was a little on the cool side a few times in a row, but he finally warmed up. (Fav. Nurse Heather threatened him with blood work and that seemed to do that trick.)He's also got a bit of loose stool again, but they tell me it's not terrible and we already had labwork scheduled for this morning, so I relaxed.

I brought in a basket of goodies to thank the NICU staff. Heather put the basket out on the table just outside our room so I could hear everyone coming to get stuff. I had signed the card from Robbie with an addition saying that we didn't want to hear any complaints about getting trying to make them fat because as far as Robbie is concerned, a softer nurse is a better nurse. I heard one nurse laugh and say that Robbie has a good sense of humor. It made me giggle. Several people came in to say thank you and it made me feel really good. They've all done so much for us, it's the least we could do.


His breathing is going well, his eating is going well. Today, his labs were good. The EOs are down again. I didn't get the actual number on the phone, but it must have been good because apparently the pediatrician wants to talk to the neonatologist about me being able to eat dairy again. Three cheers for cheese!

And today is now my first official day of leave. A set of twins whose family we're friendly with are being discharged today so I'm heading to the hospital very soon to see them off.

I'm going to drop off another basket of goodies to my OB's office and maybe show off some Robbie pictures.

And I'm going to hang out with my kiddo.

It's a good plan.

--Trish