June 7, 2006

I updated yesterday's post around 8:00 last night, so if you're lost with today's post, it's probably because you read yesterday's before I put the whole thing in there. Probably not one of my best-thought-out plans...

So I went to the hospital last night to breastfeed Gracie. There she was in her open crib and I couldn't have been more proud of her! Her temperature was 97.9, so the nurse wrapped her up tightly in two blankets before I got started. She said if her temp didn't go back up, she'd have to go back into an isolette because she may not be quite ready for an open crib. I'm hoping her temp went back up!

I got settled in a chair and the nurse passed Grace to me. I put her to my breast, fully expecting her to haven't a clue what to do or to not be interested. I was warned a number of times that this would likely happen -- preemies just aren't equipped for breastfeeding like full-term babies are. So I was anticipating us just "practicing" and then moving to a bottle.

It took a few minutes, definitely. But once I got her to acknowledge the breast, she actually started to suck and swallow! A couple of times her oxygen saturation dropped a little and I had to pull her away so she would breathe. Boy did she hate that! She wanted to eat more! We did this for about 15 minutes and she started to get tired (apparently, nursing is very hard work!), so we decided to give her a bottle.

That kid took to the bottle like a duck to water! She lolled the nipple around in her mouth a few times and realized that there was milk coming out of it! She sucked on it once or twice and, as they say, the rest is history! She managed to take 17 of the 20 mL that were put in the bottle for her (it took her 45 minutes, though...), and was tube-fed the rest of her meal. The poor thing was pretty exhuasted after all of this, but she managed to stay awake the entire time I was there.

All in all, it was a great experience. I'm so proud of how well Grace did and I'm looking forward to starting breastfeeding with Faith. Of course, how I am going to nurse two babies is totally beyond me, but I guess I'll deal with that when the time is right. I'm not the first person in the world to nurse two babies at once, so I know it's possible. I'm just having a hard time picturing the logistics.

I didn't get any time with Faith last night, though, so I'm on my way to the hospital to snuggle her and give her lots and lots of kisses.

I'm outta here!

E