Long Weekend: 2

I was talking about nipple shields, and I got distracted by extreme diaper cream and my inability to stand up to, well, anyone. I had a Guinness and went to bed rather than subject everyone to a rambling diatribe. Though rambling diatribes do often make for interesting content.

I put the nipple shield on... no, wait, the nurse put the nipple shield on like she was struggling to put a turtleneck on a cat, and told me what to do. Five days later, it's hard to imagine why she felt she needed to put the nipple shield on for me or why the whole transaction glimmers in my mind with a sort of frantic energy, but that's how I remember it. Everything she does has a frantic energy behind it; it's just her way. Watching bath time was painful for me as she tried to get Pete to move faster. I knew that if she were "helping" me, I would not enjoy it. I don't think Pete loved the experience, either, but he's much more capable than I when it comes to dealing with other humans.

With nipple shield in place, and feeling like a big, biological bottle, I moved Finn in, and he latched right on and sucked away. He's been doing so ever since, except or when he's sleepy and does not want to wake up to eat. He's very used to sleeping through meals, after all. But over the weekend, which included me taking Monday and Tuesday off to work with him more, he fed himself for most of the times we tried the breastfeeding. We did four feedings Saturday through Monday and three yesterday. He needed supplements only two or three times.

How it works is, if he sucks well for ten minutes (my baby sucks), then he does not get a supplement (the nose feeding). If he sucks for five minutes, he gets half, and so on. It's not very scientific. The only way to really tell how much he's getting would be to weigh him before and after, but they don't do that unless his weight starts to drop. So far, he has gained or stayed the same. He's now at 5 pounds 7 ounces, and he looks great.

It was a long and tiring four days that included loads of errands on Monday and a dentist appointment on Tuesday, as well as two quick stops at The Dubliner, our "home pub" to visit with some friends who were performing. On this end of it, getting ready to go back to the hospital for his 9 o'clock and then to work, it's hard to believe how far he has come in such a short time, and it's even harder to believe that he could be home in a week.

To put it simply: we have a lot to do...