Day 3: I'm Still Hungry!

This post covers from Wednesday morning through Thursday morning. Starting Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m., we were able to increase his feedings to 10 cc every 3 hours. He now was able to drink out a bottle instead of just a nipple so that was easier to feed him with. I continued to pump and supplement his formula with my breastmilk. By Wednesday night, I was able to give 6 cc of breastmilk and therefore he only had to get 4 cc of formula. He took a little while eating all of his bottle for the first couple of feedings and the nurse had to help me get him to eat. By his third feeding of 10 cc though, I was able to feed him the whole thing on my own. I am not sure why but the way you have to feed a premie is different than full term babies so it took me a little bit to get the hang of it. By Wednesday evening, he was basically inhaling it though. ;) He would eat his whole bottle in about 2 minutes. At this point I had a routine of taking his temperature and then changing his diaper before every feeding. Again, that helped me feel like a real mommy. ;)

Also, on Wednesday morning, Jude's bilirubin levels were at 12 and therefore they put him on phototherapy. So, when we walked in for his 9:30 feeding, he was getting a sun tan in his isolette under the UV light. He had some really fashionable sunglasses to protect his eyes. ;) They are going to check his bilirubin levels again Thursday morning to see if he needs to stay under the lights or not. Even though it looks really uncomfortable and I can't imagine being in a tanning bed for basically the entire day, Jude looks completely content. He is such a good baby!!

They received his blood cultures back and they were negative so he was taken off of his antibiotics (he was gentamycin and another one that I am blanking on). His IV fluids were increased because his sodium was a tiny bit high but as we increase his feedings more and more, they are going to decrease his IV fluids.

It is so great being able to go down and feed Jude every three hours even throughout the night. Even though I am tired and I fall asleep while pumping, I feel extremely privileged and blessed to have the opportunity to be a mom to him in whatever way I can. Jeremy comes to all of the feedings except for the 12:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. ones...go figure. ;) Atleast one of us will be functional.