After what we've been through the last week or so, it was a welcome sight! Clare wen't back to feeding on breast milk today, and we were even surprised to learn that we were going to start feeding her from a bottle. She started at 6 ml every three hours, and it was an amazing learning curve for us to bottle feed Clare. Both of us bottle fed her, we really weren't very good at it, and it takes a lot of energy for Clare to do it, so she may end up with a feeding tube in her nose anyway (gavage, I think it what it is called). Still, for the future, we will know what to do and what to practice. Clare was amazingly awake after she was fed for the first time, with lots of views of her pretty big eyes and lots of stirring. Having used so much energy though, she was barely awake for her 2:00 feeding, and only mildly more up for her 5:00. We will call the nurse after 8:00 PM to see how she does later on.
Amanda called today with our little girl a wonderful gift for her birthday. To make what seems to us to be a milestone, actually feeding on breast milk rather than living on IV fluids, was what we both wished for. The bottle part was a huge bonus.
Thank you to everyone who are sending us stuff, such as food, baby clothing, and useful baby gifts. We're not completely convinced that she will ever be big enough to fit in 0-3 month old clothing, but someday (by the time she's 10?) she will fit. We look at other people's infants and toddlers and say "geez, that kid's huge!" every time we go to the hospital.
The hospital is starting to feel eerily like home now, like our regular house isn't quite complete and only temporary, but Tacoma General is the real thing. Everyone has to be let in to their own house by a receptionist, right? Everyone scrubs for three minutes with surgical scrub and can't wear jewelry and locks their things in a locker. That's beginning to be normal for us.
Clare is now officially four pounds, eleven ounces.
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