Dry Run

Let me get the apologies out of the way -- photos were scanty today, but my hands were occupied for most of the day: Jane and I finally got the green light for breast feeding!

The results were mixed. I pumped every drop out of me so that Jane could get used to having something in her mouth and learning to breathe while sucking without having to deal with swallowing. The first try? Unmitigated success! She latched! She tried to suckle a bit! She fell asleep at the boob! Just like a real baby. And then she peed on me.

Second try? Big fat cry face, poking out of the tongue and looks of dismay and confusion. And then she puked on me. And then she fell asleep on me just when I needed to leave.

That she took to it so well the first time was awesome. Until Monday she's going to keep trying these dry runs when I'm there. After that, assuming she's starting to take to it, she'll get to try the real deal.

Instinct is an incredible force. Jane's 20 weeks old. Her adjusted age is 7 weeks. SEVEN weeks. She's only now getting to use her mouth for its intended purpose, and yet she was still willing to give it a try. Thank the latex gods for pacifiers.

Oh, one other really cool thing before I forget. For over an hour while she was trying the feeding thing the first time, the machine was not breathing for her. For real! It wasn't off -- it was still providing the same amount of pressure that it always does -- but it wasn't forcing her to take any breaths (right now it's usually set to give her 25 breaths per minutes). The thinking is that trying to deal with suckling during machine breaths would have been upsetting and uncomfortable. So she was on her own for nearly an hour and a half, and she did beautifully. She wasn't working any harder than she usually does, and her oxygen actually went down. Our girl RULES.