Bonding...

Holding Hands

Sara and I have thoroughly enjoyed the past few days with our new daughter. Tears were flowing last night when it was time for us to go home and leave Chloe at the hospital. I reassured Sara that she was in good hands and that we would be back early in the morning. It was still very tough on both of us.

The nurses put Chloe's feeding tube back in yesterday afternoon. The sucking reflex develops around the 34th week of gestation, and Chloe is right there developmentally. She is able to breast feed and take a bottle, but was only eating enough to stay hydrated...not gain weight. She tends to go to sleep before she has eaten the required amount. She is down to 4 lbs, but the docs are not concerned...yet. After she goes to sleep, if she has not eaten her required amount, she gets the remainder via the feeding tube. When they took it out on day 2, the docs told us not to consider it a "setback" if the tube had to go back in. We still want it out!

Sara developed a horrible head ache and was vomiting last night and today. After getting to the hospital this morning, she fed Chloe and then needed to go home and go to bed. She called her mom and sister to come get her and take her home. As they left the hospital, Sara puked again and decided to call the OB Triage Nurse. They had her come in and did some blood work. All is well, and they think her headache was caused by tension in her back and neck. She has gone through a lot in the past few weeks. She got some drugs and some sleep and is feeling much better.

Today, Chloe and I had some good "daddy - daughter" bonding time. I gave her a bath and got to feed her throughout the day. As soon as her bath was finished, I got her dressed and fed her. Moments later, she puked all over herself. I think she is going to teach me a lot about patience.

Thank you for your continued prayers and we look forward to introducing Chloe to you.