Today was a pretty good day. My little farting, burping, squirming, pooping machine (God, she's so gross sometimes) has done pretty well- she had a brady at noon during her feeding but otherwise has done well. She came close to having a brady a couple of times, but she's starting to breathe again quicker than she used to. However, her reflux is causing her some congestion issues and resulted in our very first booger experiences today. I was holding her this afternoon and tried suctioning out her nose because she was really laboring to breathe and sounded stuffy. I got a little something out of one nostril, but some of it was sticking out of her nose so I decided to just pull it out with my finger. Let's just say there was more to it than I anticipated. Later, she was super congested so I made some saline solution and put some drops in her nose, then suctioned again. And a booger the size of a semi truck came out. Needless to say, she could breathe just fine after that :)
Another first came last night... daddy's first poopy diaper. I think the two of them entered into a contract at some point where they agreed that Emma would only poop when it was my turn to change her or when I was holding her and couldn't in good faith make hubby change her diaper. Someone breached the contract, because she pooped when it was his turn to change her last night. His reaction was hilarious and priceless. Atta girl, Emma. Although she ended up pooping again when it was my turn, and a malfunction of her diaper almost caused a blow out on one side... it was a close call.
She's been sleeping a little longer lately, although she is obviously very uncomfortable from her reflux still. She's gotten a few doses of her Zantac so hopefully it'll begin working soon and she won't be in so much pain.
The biggest part of today- she nursed really well for a little more than five minutes straight! So I know that's not some kind of major record and she's still a long way from nursing exclusively, but this was major progress for her. This morning, she didn't want to nurse at all and refused to latch. Emma 1, mommy 0. Tonight, she latched, but not very well. To prevent myself from enduring the pain any longer, I put on the shield I bought... it's basically a silicone cover that kind of makes nursing more similar to drinking from a bottle. It's really more for babies with latching issues and women whose nipples have been ravaged by the poorly latching baby. Or for women with inverted nipples. But for preemies, it can help them nurse if they've gotten too used to the bottle. So once I popped that thing on, we were set to go! She nursed just like she was drinking from her bottle and even started to space out a little. Emma 1, Mommy 1! VICTORY!!! However, she still took about three ounces of milk from the bottle afterward so I have no idea how much she actually got while nursing. To give you a reference, she usually takes about two ounces of milk at a time... so she not only nursed, but she took extra from her bottle. No wonder she's growing so fast- she may just hit 3 feet tall in a few weeks ;)
She definitely has a sleeping/waking pattern now. She'll sleep for about three hours before waking to eat, then she'll usually go back to sleep. After her late evening feed, she'll be wide awake for a while and we utilize this time for some developmental activity. We lay her under her playmat so she can look at the toys, colors, and patterns and fine tune her vision. She loves looking around at everything and will turn her head back and forth while looking around. There's a butterfly toy that hangs low enough that she can hit it with her hand. When she hits it, it's entirely accidental but it always gets her attention and she immediately turns her head to look and see what's going on. It may not sound like much, but for a baby that is -3 weeks old, this is huge!
Even bigger than that was last night's tummy time- I am so amazed by this kid! We put her on her tummy on the play mat, and she sure showed us that she doesn't want to be called a preemie anymore. She lifted up her head and chest and turned her head back and forth repeatedly, and even held her head up for a few moments. She also army crawled a bit because the playmat material is shiny and a little slippery and she just can't keep those ninja legs still. Her daddy and I were so unbelievably proud of her!
After playtime tonight (we didn't do tummy time), it was time for a bath. Her daddy went out and bought a bath tub for her today so we used it tonight. Now she smells wonderful. She actually enjoys bathtime and doesn't scream like some babies do- she's so adorable just sitting there naked in her little bathtub. She sits there calmly, looking around and trying to eat her hands because she's usually hungry by that point. Daddy always has her towel ready and waiting in his arms. He gets the good part and gets to snuggle with her and dry her off after her bath, but I don't mind. He can snuggle her as much as he wants! After she was snuggly and dry, daddy put her in some monkey feet pj's, gave her a bottle, and put her in bed. Ah, the cute and fun parts of parenting!
She's sound asleep right now, but occasionally makes some little noises. She sounds like a high-pitched version of the forest monster from Lost. Or should I say John Locke... what a strange ending to that show.
Bath time yielded some adorable pictures:
Does it get any cuter than this?!
Yo, don't mess with me homie! I have a zebra buddy that will mess you up!
Whatsthat?!
No way! Tell me more, Daddy!
Can I eat this?
I promise this isn't her bradying. This is her "I stayed up too late" face.
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