Mammalhood

Being a mammal is not easy!  As difficult as it is to get the hang of nursing with a full term baby, breastfeeding a premature baby is even a tougher game to play.  Nicholas and I both have been trying very hard from the start, and made some progress in the NICU and at home, but haven’t quite mastered the process…

To become a happier, more successful mammal I decided to get professional help, and invited a lactation consultant to come to our house.  She confirmed that at this point Nicholas is not yet mature enough to get all the calories he needs by breastfeeding alone, and still needs the bottle.  She also showed us some really amazing positioning techniques to get Nicholas’ instincts fired up for breastfeeding.  I was really impressed by her recommendations, and see drastic improvement in our feeding routine! 

There are definite pluses to bottle-feeding though because anyone can feed the baby from the bottle and mommy can get a break.  For instance, last night I got to catch up on some major sleep and let daddy and uncle handle the nighttime feedings.  Last night daddy’s brother came to visit us from New York.  The boys stayed up all night playing videogames and shooting zombies, and were wide awake and willing to take care of Nicholas’ feedings at 1:30 am and 4:30 am.  I still had to get up at night to prevent my boobs from “exploding” and express my milk by pumping, but pumping is much faster than feeding a newborn, so I got more continuous sleep as a result.  Nice!

Here are some pictures from the last few days at home:

After getting blessed by Fr. Patrick at home

Feed me!  Daddy and uncle take over the night time feedings.

Chilling with my dog and daddy

Stealing mommy's body heat :-)