Living with Jude

I would have to say that after four days and three nights home with our baby, we are the happiest zombies in the world.

Our first night was the battle of the pacifier. In the NICU, Jude was first given a pacifier so that he could learn to suck and swallow on his own so that we could start feeding him. However, his dependency on the thing led to a terrible evening of him losing the pacifier and screaming every fifteen minutes when it fell out of his mouth. We 86'd the pacifier that night, and I think we are all better for it. We ended up with about 5 hours of sleep, four of which came all at once. Saturday morning at the doctor he weighted 7.12 lbs.

Night 2 was frustrating at the beginning because Jude wants to cluster feed, which means he was eating his meal over the course of an hour and a half in about 20 minute increments. This made for a very tired mommy and a daddy who felt like he wanted to do more but couldn't. We wanted to get more sleep this night, so we went to bed at 9:30, and with all the interruptions probably ended up with 8 hours over the course of 12.

Night 3 is where I got really frustrated and really leaned on Jon. I was sore and Jude wanted to latch and unlatch and relatch, and I was in PAIN. We went to the fridge and heated up a bottle of what I had pumped the day before and Jon delivered it. This ended up being just what I needed to recover, and it took Jude through to 8:45 this morning.

At his 9:15 appointment this morning, Jude weighed in at 8.6 lbs., and the doctor told us we can start working to end the cluster feedings. We tried it this afternoon by insisting that he eat longer instead of falling asleep at the breast and making him wait at least 2 hours before he eats again. Jude was not happy about it at first, but now he's asleep and he should be really hungry at his next feeding, making him eat longer without the battle to keep him awake. It feels like a step forward in learning about how to compromise and preserve my parts, keep from feeling a constant milk maid, and give Jude what he needs. He is obviously gaining weight!