Mini Me: What a Difference a Day Makes

This is the sweet face Mommy saw bright and early at 8:00 this morning. No IV in the head (got moved back to the arm), no tape marks or tubes. He still has his little oxygen and heart monitors, but they are tucked away under the blanket. And, he has on clothes which it seemed he would never wear. He looks so healthy!

Today was Mommy's first day to nurse, so I spend the night getting on his schedule, and I get up at 6:00 a.m. and call for feeding schedule verification. And, of course, they have changed it big time over night. They have decided to put him on a four hour schedule and feed him ample amounts of formula and breast milk droplets to make him last that long. So, what do you do when you have to jump out of the bed and get to the hospital and you have a toddler that can't go? Daddy drops you off at the door, takes Alden to breakfast, the two of them ride around until you are finished, and finally pick up Mommy standing outside the hospital in the middle of a thunderstorm. Nice.

A very tired Mommy and a very rested baby. We had very successful feedings today. The one that went poorly was the one when the lactation lady was standing over me and moving him around and telling me what all I was doing wrong. We did just fine by ourselves without our performance anxiety. Mommy came to feed him at 8:00, 12:00, and 4:00 and frankly wore out after that of going back and forth to the hospital post c-section in the rain. There just wasn't enough hours in the pain medicine! The nurse was great and let me do it all: take his temperature, change his diapers (3 poops + big brother's 3 poops = 6 poop diaper changes in one day! Whew!--and more than you needed to know about our family!! ), and do all the feedings and swaddling.

I think he looks pretty satisfied after eating. He has already learned some bad habits that we might have taught him today. When we were leaving tonight, he was crying fiercely for the first time that we have witnessed. It was almost bothersome because he is usually just asleep or crying a little to eat or get changed, and of course, because he is in NICU we freak out about everything. Guess what? As soon as the nurse picked him up...you got it. We just wanted to be held. Too bad about breaking that one because starting tomorrow night when we get him, he will probably be held constantly to make up for lost time!

Poor Daddy is almost as bad as the lactation consultant. He likes to watch Mommy and remind her that maybe Spencer needs burping and that maybe the bottle is not tilted the right way and that maybe...I think we are all a little nervous about this little guy based on what he has been through. In fact, he keeps giving me little heart attacks. I had just gotten dropped off this afternoon for feeding three, signed in, and heard the desk nurse call our nurse and say that Joey was returning her call. What?!! I mean, why did she call and I had JUST left Joey in the car. I ran into Spencer's pod only to find out that she was just calling us to confirm that we were going home tomorrow. Oh, my!

For sure, for sure, we are going to spend the night in the family room tomorrow night to bond with baby Spencer and have knowing hands near by to answer any questions. This really weirds me out because it is like they are watching you and if you screw this up you don't get to take him home! We said on the way home that we should take video of Alden to let them know that we actually can keep a baby alive and well. Seriously, this will be a good night for all three of us to bond without NICU nurses standing over us and fear that he is going to be okay. We do have a lot of catching up to do. We plan on splitting the day between our two boys: Alden gets the morning to play catch up on his time without Mommy and Daddy. He is not understanding why Mommy can't pick him up, why suddenly he is being raised by grandparents and babysitters, and keeps telling Daddy he want to come "see her" when I am not in the room. Today, he called me "Granna, uh, Mommy." Spencer will get all afternoon through the next day. Poor Spencer, this is his only night ever as an only child!

Oh yeah, speaking of our first born, he has grown by leaps and bounds in a week. He has been speaking more in sentences like "Mommy, giraffe fell down," and actually answering our questions and has learned a few words and the tune to about five songs he makes us sing constantly. He is doing great! And has gotten plenty of attention. People keep asking if the boys look alike. You can decide.