SOOOOO Big

Today was supposed to be JD’s birthday. I am not a big fan of choosing your child’s birth date because I love the element of surprise. Maybe God was allowing me to have my surprise by delivering James to us early. Besides, 4/2/12 is a way better birthday than 4/23/12 (according to one of nurses a boy was mean to her who had the birthday of 4/23 so who wants that date anyway).

Nate and I talked about how strange it would be if we were starting our whole journey today. We are already 3 weeks ahead of the game with JD making great progress. While we were not ready at that time to deliver we would much rather be at this point then starting all over. Also, the weekend would have been full of anxiety and nerves whereas this past weekend was relaxed and full of time spent with our boys (and celebrating Baby Tunes at Lauren’s baby shower). I guess the annoying saying “everything happens for a reason” is true in this sense.

Feeding

Today was a fantastic feeding day. During his afternoon “snack” he took 3ml by mouth – THIS IS AMAZING PROGRESS.

Question: How is this different than how he currently takes his feeds?

Answer: Right now, he gets 28ml (fortified with 27ml of calories – it is a powder mixed in) of breast milk via his OG Tube which goes directly into his stomach. Yet, when we work with him we use a pacifier to give him tiny tastes of milk while he practices his sucking (the rest of the milk stills goes through his OG Tube). Every baby has the natural instinct to suck but they all have to learn how to use it. However, the little munchkins need to work a bit harder. Also, I don’t think I have mentioned in the past but JD has a small Cleft Palate (see Medical Jargon for information). A cleft palate adds another level of difficulty when learning how to feed. Roll up the fact he was born early with a cleft palate and we are looking at some pretty big obstacles.

Nonetheless, JD hears about these complications and says “I dare you to challenge me.” JD was alert and was very willing to take the milk via mouth. I won’t go into the details but he used the bottle nipple to take the milk which allowed him to use his sucking reflex AND working his throat to swallow. OUTSTANDING effort. Speech was extremely excited and pleased with his progress. Feeding will be one of the more difficult challenges during his first year so if we can start to master this early it is just a matter of time before JD is chowing on a Gilbert’s Craft Sausage and Deep Dish Pizza.

FAVORITE UPDATE OF THE POST
The BIG news is JD is growing!!!!! He gains an average of 20 grams/night (the Metric System is king here so JD is going to do very well in math class) 20 grams = 0.7oz making 20 grams a night a pretty good number (last night was a HUGE 30 grams). As of today, he is up to 3lbs 3.1oz which puts him very close to his birth weight. However, his birth weight is still debatable. When they weighed him at birth he had “stuff” on him (tubes, IVs, plastic bags, etc) so his weight was 3lbs 10oz, yet that is not what they recorded. When we asked the doctor at Prentice she said “3½ pounds-ish” then when they weighed him at Children’s the next day he was 3lbs 3.5 oz. Last week, we asked Dr. O and Amy (our Primary Nurse) to confirm his official birth weight and that was still questionable as they had two different numbers. We all agreed that the Birth Announcements should read “3½ pounds-ish.” Just in case I have not confused you enough, Nate and I have settled on 3lbs 5oz as his birth weight. Got it, me neither.

No matter what the original weight his current weight is 3lbs 3oz making it a terrific day (now if only those Blackhawks can pull it out tonight). He is getting closer to that 3½ pounds-ish weight (for those math-challenged 3½ pounds = 3lbs 8oz) and we look forward to the day we can call him “chubbs.”

Based on JD’s development and how well he is progressing I would like to thank Dr. G and Dr. GB for delivering him early. Our family is blessed to have an additional 3 weeks with JD thanks to his early delivery. Kickin’ it old school but sometimes you just have to “thank God for Unanswered Prayers.” Thanks for the reminder Mr. Garth Brooks.

Go Hawks, please win tonight so JD’s daddy has the trifecta of good news today (great feeding, outstanding weight gain, and a Hawks win).

Sidenote: We have adjusted our settings so you can post comments even if you don't have a Gmail account. 

Hi Mom, loving the cuddles without the pillow

Friday Night fun

Saturday Night fun

Seriously, another picture

SOOOOOOO Big

Chubbs!

Way to go JD, keep gaining weight so I can give you lots of hugs very soon