The Breast Day!

You guys...Cooper breastfed yesterday for about 5 minutes!!! The team approved nutritive feeding and the first time we tried he was too sleepy. We timed the next feed to be after a diaper change so he was nice and pissed off. It worked, and with some serious hand-holding from the lactation consultant, he latched and drank an estimated half ounce of milk! I know it may seem like a small thing, but with his issues and not being able to even eat for the first 10 days of his life, there was legit concern this wouldn’t be able to happen. I’m so proud of my strong little guy! He’s up to 5 lbs 9 oz now, by the way!

He continues to make progress. He is now more than halfway to his goal feeding rate and has seemingly had no issues with the transition (knock on wood!). They are planning to discontinue his TPN (IV nutrition) on Sunday night. He is currently taking half of his feeds by mouth and half through his tube. He is still pretty sleepy and he only lasted 45 minutes on a room air trial yesterday before he needed oxygen turned back on. We’ll keep trying daily to give him a chance to prove himself whenever he’s ready.

Mat, Mom and I managed to take a few minutes for ourselves yesterday in between shifts to take a walk/easy hike in the Red Butte gardens, just behind the hospital. It’s the first real exercise I’ve tried since Cooper’s birth. I was sore and exhausted, but it felt amazing to do something “normal” and remember that there is a world outside the NICU and my little pumping headquarters on the couch!

Coop did great and most of his bottles from Mat in the evening, too. Dad’s got a great touch with the bottle. Mom’s not so great with the bottle yet but she’s got two secret weapons under her shirt. 😜

At one point he got super jelly of the baby in the next bed because he has a light up aquarium toy thingy. So we got one for him too. Look at his little face while he takes in all the sights and sounds of this crazy toy!

I can’t wait until we can bust him out and I can watch him experience everything else the world has to offer!