Today he had his first bottle feeding. The nurse holds him on his side for his feedings - since that's how nursing babies lay. They also use a slow flow nipple so he's not being inundated with milk. They told us not to expect much for the first feeding since he's never done this before. We can't help but hope that he does well, though, and exceeds expectations. After all, this is the last big hurdle for him. She showed us how to bring the bottle to his mouth and not force the nipple in his mouth (get your mind out of the gutter!). Then, just watch and make sure he's breathing while he eats. She said that they will only give them 30 minutes to feed. After that they end up burning more calories than they eat, so it's pointless. She said whatever he doesn't eat will go in his feeding tube. After about 10 minutes of the bottle, she showed us how to burp him. Considering this is his first bottle, Logan aced it! He coordinated the suck, swallow breathe - just like in breast feeding. He also took in 5cc. Hopefully tomorrow he takes in a little more. Once he takes most of his bottle, they will add a second one in. The nurse said usually it takes awhile to go from one to two bottles, but then they move pretty quickly to 4. Then it slows down again, but a baby may go from 6-8 in one day. Also, they will space out the bottles - one in the evening and one earlier in the day. Bottle feeding is a very tiring activity for preemies, they get very worn out doing this. He pretty much conked out during his bottle. He's getting spoiled being fed through a tube. Now he has to work for it.
Jesse and I snuggled our little man once the tube feeding began. He woke up for that part with me. He had his eyes open and was looking around to see what was going on. He kept smiling off and on and it turns out he has a dimple on his right cheek! Jesse read Logan his cousin Molly's favorite book - Five Little Monkeys (Mary - yesterday we read him Darsie's favorite!). Then, Logan started pooping - which may be why he was smiling. Jesse changed his diaper this go round. He did not get pooped on, though. His day will come, his day will come. Then, we tucked Logan back in and left. Our neighbor brought us dinner tonight, so we wanted to make sure we were home for it.
It's hard, though. We feel guilty because we don't spend all day with him. But we're torn in two directions. We have so much to do at home - putting the house back in order, getting his room ready, laundry, and spending time with the pets, too. We don't want them to feel neglected either. Plus, Jesse is at work, and goes straight to the hospital from there. Then we get home around 7:00-ish, and have to do stuff around the house here. We want to make sure the house is ready for when Logan does come home. Hopefully we can get the house in order soon and spend a little more time with him. I want to start going up in the day more often. I just need to bring things with me to do.
Here are some pictures of Logan eating and smiling, and just being cute. At the rate he's going, he'll be 5lbs soon enough!
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