The Pair of Scates: Weekend Update

Saturday felt like an exercise in futility. I had received an email from Pottery Barn that they were having a sale on their furniture at the outlet in San Marcos, so Matt and I decided to make a quick trip down there to see if we could get some rocking chairs for the nursery. No such luck. And the three other furniture stores we visited didn't have anything either. We quickly ran by Buy Buy Baby to try out their rocker again - found one we liked - and then I booked it to the NICU to make the 8:30 pm feeding time for breastfeeding purposes. Since Matt wasn't feeling so hot, he didn't go, but did purchase the crib mattresses after visiting three stores (two Targets and a Wal-Mart) and thoroughly testing their firmness (I can just see him thoroughly inspecting each type).

Meanwhile, in the NICU, breastfeeding went okay, but less than 10 minutes for each; so, according to the algorithm/doctor's orders, they received the rest of their feeding via tube/gavage. I ended up holding both of them afterwards, and took some cute pictures of them sleeping in my lap:

Abby

Hazel

Abby peeking while Hazel is sleeping

Napping on my lap

On Sunday, I made up my weekly "to do" list (always long...sigh) and headed up to the hospital alone again, as Matt still felt like he may have something, and didn't want to pass it to the girls. (Instead, he stayed home and worked on cleaning out the garage plus working on a massive status update.) I arrived there for the 5:30 feeding time, spent some time with the girls, had dinner at the Bistro during the NICU shift change, and then went back in for the 8:30 feeding time. We worked on breast feeding with both girls; Hazel, who went first, and went for about 45-60 minutes (although not sucking the whole time), took to it better than Abby. But, as I was working with Abby, I noticed that Hazel was still fussing a bit, and wondered if she was still hungry (she didn't get any remaining milk via tube, b/c I thought she had fed from me for over the allotted time). So after Abby passed out, I picked up Hazel again, and using the nipple shield she definitely ate more. Progress!

The other interesting thing: I planned to leave around 10:45 pm, and so I put Hazel back in her crib. She started fussing and crying, so I picked her back up, held her close, and rocked her. She calmed down almost immediately! Gotta admit, that made me feel really good that I could make her feel better. :) Of course, eventually I had to leave her, but the nurse held her and kept her sleeping when she put her back in the crib. She stayed asleep, so I was able to leave (no way if she was still crying - I did that once while I was still in the hospital and still feel bad about it).

Pics from Sunday: