Chapter 13: Week Thirteen

Sunday  5/27/12

This week, Isaac turned twelve weeks old (35 weeks gestationally) and is staying strong!  He took 20 ml from a bottle on Sunday, 23 ml for us on Monday, then drank his entire bottle for his night time nurse (31 ml) a few hours later, so he can now be bottle fed any time he shows hunger cues and is awake enough to eat on his own.

I'm ready for my photo shoot!

Our champion eater

We had a tropical storm through the weekend, which came to a peak on Monday.  We were afraid we might have to spend the night at the NICU, due to the reports of high winds and hurricane level gusts, but thankfully, it never grew to be as powerful as expected, and we were able to safely drive to and from the hospital for our visits.

I can hold it myself!

On Tuesday, I had my first nursing lesson with the lactation specialist.  She gave me tips on how to hold him and encourage latching without frustration, and we were both very pleased with his positive responses and strong efforts on his first try.  Between Tuesday and Wednesday, Isaac also received his two month vaccines.  I'm so thankful that the NICU's protocol is to give tylenol every 6 hours for the two days of vaccines.  He never spiked a fever, wasn't terribly fussy, and mostly slept a lot, which he needed anyway.

Stuffed friends watch over him as he sleeps.

Thursday was nursing lesson #2.  The lactation specialist expected Isaac to drink about 10 ml, and we were both pleasantly surprised when he drank 25 ml!  He was  completely exhausted once he was done, but I was immensely proud of him!

On Friday I took it upon myself to assemble the changing table my sister gave us.  It was the one she had used for her two children, but is still in great shape.  The only downside was that they no longer had the assembly directions.  All in all, it wasn't terribly difficult to put together, but I did have some obstacles toward the beginning, when I attached one leg facing the wrong direction and then used a wrong connecting piece, which I had to take it apart and redo.  Once it was finished though - 2.5 hours later - I was pretty proud.  It's one more task to check off the list!

Hey Nana, like my hat?

We ended the week with a visit from Nana and Poppa on Saturday.  They had originally planned on visiting the weekend before, but due to a stomach bug, had to delay until all systems were a go.  They each had a nice visit with Isaac, and were able to witness the joys of diaper changes in the isolet, and even an outfit/diaper change combo toward the end of the visit.  Isaac continues to amaze us all every day.  We love being parents and we love love love our baby boy!