Three visits in two days

Lucky me!  I got to see Cayden twice yesterday.  I planned to visit him early in the afternoon then had Jason pick me up at the hospital so we could watch some of the Superbowl at our friends' house downtown.  When he dropped me off to pick up our other vehicle at the hospital after the game, it was a few minutes before 9 - just in time for Cayden's care time!  So I decided to go up and see him.  I figured I could try feeding him then pump without having to rush home to do it.  The night nurse had started his cares early, and when I arrived at his pod, she had just started giving him a bottle.  Although I was disappointed I missed my chance to breast feed him, I did get to give him a bottle for the first time. 

Let me tell you, there is more to feeding a preemie than just sticking a bottle in their mouth and letting them go at it! Positioning of both the baby and the bottle is important: they can't be too upright or too reclined; their neck needs to be supported and straight in line with their body; a side-lying position works best.  You have to constantly make sure they're breathing by keeping your hand on their back and visually monitor their color, all while "pacing" the feeding.  Tip the bottle up, hold, suck-suck-suck, breathe, swallow, tip the bottle back, rest, repeat.  I was exhausted after feeding him, so I can only imagine how tired it must make him!  He finished all 49 mls of his milk and promptly fell asleep.  I stayed a few minutes longer, then headed home.

Disappointingly, he didn't gain any weight on Sunday night.  Technically, he actually lost 2 grams, but it didn't make a difference in the pounds/ounces conversion.

Today (Monday), I visited him long enough to catch two care times.  I tried breast feeding him both times, but he didn't do well either time.  However, he did great overnight - he nippled two and a half bottles out of four - so that could be part of the reason he was a little lethargic at the breast today.  He also had a developmental therapy session in the morning and then an eye exam in the afternoon, so both of those things most definitely could have tuckered him out even more.  I'm trying not to be too disappointed.  Of course, I blame his lack of success on the fact that I missed seeing him three days last week while I was sick.

As for his eye exam, there was no change since the last one two weeks ago.  I was hoping the left one would have finished developing and the stage II ROP would have cleared up, but I guess no change is better than it getting worse, and since the blood vessels are not yet mature, there's still time for them to normalize.