5 days old - updated 8:30 pm

Sunday 4/27/08 Morning Weight 5 lbs 15 oz

6:30 a.m. He woke up on his own about every 2 hours last night to nurse. And then woke up around 6 am just before the nurse came in to draw blood for his bili check. Little stinker decided he didn't want to eat though he just wanted to cuddle and go back to sleep. So we'll give him about another hour see if he wakes back up if not i'll go wake him up. The neonatologist was here around 2 a.m. - Dr. Kekerra which is the neo he saw on tues and wed. She said he's doing great and she agree's with Dr. Chandra (the other neo) about watching him for 5-7 days after the desat episode. She was actually trying to push more for 7 days but I told her no, Dr. C said Wednesday and I'm holding him to it. I guess Gavin lost an ounce yesterday evening so was 5 lbs 15 oz so Dr. K wants him weighed before and after each feeding again and wants him getting 30 cc's per feed which equals about an ounce. If he doesn't take that much at breast it's back to offering the bottle afterwards, even if it's only for a couple cc's. At the 3:30 feeding he gained 27 then drank 10 from a bottle. He didn't appreciate that bottle though lol. He likes the boob :) The nurse pretty much moved the bottle around in his mouth so the breastmilk was dripping out and then he'd swallow. I hate that it has to pretty much be forced on him like that but hey we gotta keep doc happy. His bili levels should be back in about a half hour or so.

1:30 pm. He was pretty lazy for his 9 am feeding. Wouldn't stay awake to nurse at all so after 45 mins of trying we gave him a bottle and he ended up drinking 35 cc's. He woke up at 12:15 on his own hungry and he nursed Great :) Gained 62 grams in just under 20 mins of nursing!! So almost double what the neo wanted to see him eat :) He made up for his laziness earlier that's for sure. His bili levels came back at 13 today. He's still under the lights - it's not absolutely necessary but since he has to be back there anyway it couldn't hurt. They say that at 5 days old is when the biliruben levels out then starts going down so I expect by tomorrow it should be at a great level. He'll get them checked again in the morning.
Here's 2 pics of him from just a little bit ago :)


5:00 pm - just got back from feeding and cuddling :) I was a little worried cuz he only nursed for 5 minutes then went to sleep and I didn't want to have to give him a bottle, but at his after feed weight check he had gained 38 grams in that 5 minutes!! I have a little power nurser on my hands lol. I guess another neonatologist was in earlier while i was in the shower and now they want all his diapers weighed too. The nurse said she has no clue why and she doesn't understand why they're treating him like he's more of a preemie than he is. She said usually they only weigh the diapers like that for babies under 5 lbs. He's pretty much stayed at 5 lbs 15 oz all day - for the past 3 days he's been 6 lbs 0 oz so he's only lost 1 ounce in those 3 days and only 5 oz from birth which isn't unusual or anything to be surprised about. Guess I'll be stalking the nursery tomorrow watching for a neo to come in so I can talk to them and find out more. If they even dare mess with us going home on wednesday they're going to deal with a fight.

8:30 pm - Rich came up for awhile and even kidnapped me to take me to walgreens lol. Pretty sad how excited i was to go buy chapstick haha. Gavin woke up around 6:30 to eat and nursed great. Gained 55 grams this feeding!! That neo better be Damn Happy lol. They checked his bili levels tonight and they were back down to 12 so they'll recheck in the morning. They usually check at 6 a.m and 6 pm. I'm hoping they are down even more cuz I want to take him off the lights and also shut the warmer off and get him into clothes to be sure he can hold his own body temp. Since he has to be in just a diaper for the bili light he's been under the warmer and has never had the chance at maintaining his own body heat and I don't want them to hold us back on wednesday saying they need to be sure he can.