The Magic Number 4

This morning when we arrived in the Special Care Unit to see Carter, he was screaming his lungs out. I KNEW he had a good set of lungs that he was just waiting to use! We were going to leave him in the incubator awhile to save his energy, etc. but we took him out and he calmed down pretty quickly. I then changed his diaper and was able to attempt feeding again. He started off very slowly, so I was worried that it would be another day of frustration. However, he quickly got the hang of it and, while no where near perfect, he was feeding 100 times better than he did yesterday!

When he got tired, the nurse showed us how to bottle feed. (I've bottle fed a TON of babies before, but none quite so small. Rather than regular cradle hold, she had us hold him more on his side - to support his neck, and make it easier to "suck-breathe-swallow". He took about 18oz via bottle (which was great compared to the 10 he took two days ago, especially considering he breast fed a bit first) - then finished with tube feeding. He quickly fell asleep after that and Aunt Cheryl stopped by for a visit (sorry you had to wait in the family room for awhile!) .

This afternoon Laura came to visit Carter, and FINALLY got to see him! She's one of our most frequent visitors, but had always come at a "bad time". During the 6pm feeding Carter decided he was done showing off and just would not wake up for anything. Finally the nurse gave him a bottle and he was able to drink 18ml before using the gavage (feeing tube). We came home after the 6pm feeding and began cleaniung and decorating the nursery. I'll have pics soon. A little after midnight I finallly slowed down and called the hospital to check on Carter. The nurse told me he weighed 4 pounds!!! HOORAY!!! If he can keep that weight up one more day he'll be in the open crib!

**If any of this entry has major typos or doesn't make sense it is due to finishing the blog at 2:30am