June 20

Updated 2:45pm

Daddy went in this morning to spend some time with Everett. He is staying for his 8 and 11 feed so he can hold him and have him suck on his pacifier to try and keep the sucking association with the filling belly.

He latched last night when I was there, and then choked up any milk he got, the nurse and doctor said to expect this and that it was normal. He has so much going on with the oxygen in his nose, feeding tube in his nose and then my boob in his mouth, I can't imagine that's a wonderful experience. After he choked I backed off and let him suck on his pacifier. This poor baby has been tortured enough, and I'm not sure that choking is going to promote breast feeding. So, I asked Andre to go in this morning since I'm hoping pretty soon I'll be there quite often teaching/learning the feeding process since he's had such a gap. I think he'll do just fine with the sucking, it's the breathing and swallowing that will get tricky I would imagine. After 3 hours pass, he has nada left in his belly, he's completely digested 75 ml. I hope he has the endurance to drink that much or more. That is about what I pump from one side every 3 hours.

Clara and I ran a few errands this morning, played with her doll house, and now she is napping. This is my first chance at a nap in about 2 weeks. I'm going to take it.

So, of course because I could nap, I couldn't. My mind just races.

Anyway, Andre did two feedings with our little man and held his pacifier in his mouth for him to suck while he got a full belly. I was going to try and make it in by 2pm for his next feed but Clara and I got too excited to give Dada his Father's Day present we went to get this morning!! A new bike! Brandi, Grammy, and Linny got us the trailer to pull the kids, maybe he can take Clara for a spin on Father's day while I go in for rounds with Everett. I'll try and push to get him down to two so we can keep this ball rolling and get him out of there!!

During rounds today they're pretty much leaving things the same. They don't really do much on the weekends. I was hoping they'd put his oxygen down to a two, but this doctor wasn't very familiar with Everett. They might move him into the other side of the hospital where the "healthy" babies are located. He's not 100% but close enough. I'm excited for this, I hope he still gets the attention he needs and deserves though. I think they have to care for three babies on that side.

When I first became a NICU mommy, I didn't understand how a parent could smile while their baby was in the NICU. I was so perplexed when I saw people acting "normal", thankfully I get it now. When your baby gets better, you can smile again.