Wednesday, June 11--Day 16, 10am

I'm a little giddy this morning.  We found her this morning in her new isolette, which she was switched into last night (it's an older, simpler, smaller model), wearing a pink fleece sleeper that said "Mommy's Little Girl" on it--a great birthday present!  This was followed by some quality time interacting with a very awake Clare, who was demonstrating some particularly powerful rooting behaviors and quickly managed to grab Tim's knuckle, pull it to her mouth, and try to nurse off it.  Soon I let her take a shot at my knuckle, and I was amazed at how much she had progressed:  she was chomping down with her little toothless gums and drawing significant suction.  This gave us endless delight and we put off changing her diaper till nearly 8:30 as a result.

Dr. Mulligan oked her to begin feeds via bottle or breast and at this point, she isn't needing a gavage tube (she may need to have one as her feeds increase, if she gets too tired to finish).  She started this morning at 9am with 6 ccs in a little bottle--probably less than a tablespoon!  Our wonderful nurse Lisa showed me how to hold her to the side so that if she forgets to swallow, the milk collects in her cheek rather than pooling at the back of her throat.  Clare was sleepy, but nonetheless took to the bottle right away and was able to coordinate sucking, swallowing, and taking little breaks to breathe.  It was so amazing to watch!  I also got to burp her twice, and here she proved indeed to be her father's little girl with a couple of substantial eruptions requiring little encouragement from me.  She then fell into a deep sleep, so we put her back in her new isolette and are now in the cafeteria enjoying some oatmeal and coffee.  We get to try again at 11:30am.  We'll also be trying to put her to breast so that she learns to nurse from either me or a bottle.  

At this moment I'm not too worried about what comes out her other end, and I'm trying to really enjoy my lack of trepidation for the brief time it's here.