Caleb Update: 12/12/07

Caleb gained another ounce today; he's at 4lb 10oz and still doing great. He seems to be awake quite a bit more than he used to. I suppose that's probably normal for most newborns. I think that he's getting more comfortable opening his eyes and checking things out and not quite so overwhelmed by the sight of his surroundings.

He's definitely getting more vocal as time goes on. He makes cute little purring-type noises when he's feeding, he cries a bit more, especially when he's getting changed. He also fusses a bit when he's uncomfortable or he's got gas. We were hoping that he would be as quiet as he has been when he gets home, but I don't think we'll be so lucky.

We gave him his first bath today, which was pretty fun and exciting. He was looking a little shiny. I suppose we all would if we went 2 weeks without bathing. He cried at first, but then we put a warm wash cloth over his body and he seemed to enjoy that and was less fussy. The nurse did most of the washing just to show us how its done so hopefully we can do it on our own in the future. I'm sorry to say that I didn't get any pictures, but we decided to do it at the last minute and it was done pretty quickly. The nurse was on a pretty tight schedule with her other babies so we didn't have much time to revel in the experience. I guess the important thing was that he got clean. You thought his hair was soft before, well it is even more soft now. It's hard to stop petting him like a little doggie. I promise I'll take pictures when we get to wash him by ourselves next time and we'll pretend that it's his first bath. Ok?

We're hoping that the nurses will start pushing him a little more with the bottle and breast feeding. That's the biggest hurdle to overcome before they send him home. We feel like they give up on it too quickly and don't give him a chance to eat more this way. He has to get at least 80% of his food from the bottle or breast before they will release him, but I don't think they're giving him enough of a chance to reach that mark. They say he gets too tired when being fed orally so they stop it when he slows down and give him the rest of his food through the tube. Don't most babies take rests when they're feeding?

We'll try to press the nurses to feed him orally more often. It seems that because they're always on such a tight feeding schedule with all of the other babies in their charge that they don't have enough time to sit with him and bottle feed him. It is easier for them to set up the pump and feed him through the tube. I guess we're a bit frustrated by this. It seems like they're going to unnecessarily prolong his stay there because they're too busy. On the other hand, they know more than we do, so I guess we should cut them a little slack. But we'll still keep bugging them about it.

Until next time,
Ryan