Wow, the days continue to fly by with visits with Calla, visits with friends and family, maybe a nap, and lots and lots of pumping. I want to write a little bit about what happened a few days before my water broke and then the great accomplishments of my daughter over the last few days. For those of you that don’t know much about having babies, before you get your milk you get a pre-milk substance called colustrum. Well for me I actually starting leaking colustrum a few days before my water broke. So in some way my body new what was about to happen and was prepared to provide food for my little girl as soon as she was born. In the NICU here they try to only feed breastmilk to the babies, this is because it is the most beneficial. So because my milk came in so quickly Calla has been able to get only my milk since she was born, which will help grow and get healthy faster. I actually began producing milk on Friday, just three days after Calla was born. I have actually produced an abundance of milk and besides having space in the fridge we also now have freezer space. Breastmilk is good in the refrigerator for 48 hours and then needs to be frozen and can be kept for up to 6 months. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to produce enough food for my little girl when she really needs it. Pumping might not let me get much sleep (I do it every three hours day and night), but nothing beasts being able to provide for my little girl!
So enough about that part, now on to my amazing daughter. When they feed Calla at 9am and 9pm I try to be there and hold her. When they start to feed her I bring her down to my breast so that she can begin to associate a full tummy with breast feeding. She has been very willing to lick breast milk from my breast, which is a big accomplishment for a premature baby. Tonight she did even better. After taking a few licks she actually opened her mouth wide enough and latched on to the nipple for almost a minute. It was a big accomplishment for such a little girl. And or course she fell asleep quickly after. One of the most peaceful parts of the day is the evening time. Tonight after she fell asleep against my chest it was just so quite and peaceful, it is the perfect way to end a day.
It is been so amazing to see her progress during this last week. I can’t wait to see where she is headed in the next week. I will continue to encourage her to associate breast feeding with a full tummy and maybe soon she will actually be strong enough to try it.
On another note from Sunday to Monday was the first time that Calla did not lose weight, she gained a whole 7 grams!!! You can truly see that we celebrate the small accomplishments in our new life.
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