Nuzzle...ouch....Good! 7/8 - 7/9

7/4/2011 4 lb 7 oz
7/5/2011 4 lb 10.7 oz
7/6/2011 4 lb 10 oz 
7/8/2011 4 lb 12 oz


Aliyah is living in the real world now.  She is in a open container instead of her plastic bubble.  She has lived this way for 2 whole days!  There is a lot more room to maneuver without all the equipment around her.  Christal and I both came together today.  My importance is again minimized by the fact that Christal and Aliyah are "nuzzling".  Nuzzling is the process of teaching her how to latch on the the nipple.  They don't want her to nurse yet, but they want her to get accustomed to grasping the nipple.  I'm witnessing everything in the room and I'm growing impatient with the fact that she is not instinctively understanding what is going on :).  The only action I did get was every now and then Christal would say "Ouch".  I would ask what happened.  Christal would respond, "She sucked pretty hard!"  I would say, "Good".  (Doing my part to encourage Aliyah to get the ouch count up on a consistent basis).  I'm not happy about Christal being hurt, but I was happy that SOMETHING was happening.  I think we got about 4 "ouches" today.  I would track that statistic also, but I'm sure Christal won't keep up with it.


I'll admit this growing patience thing is not a lot of fun.  The bright side is Aliyah is making progress.  She is learning how to nurse, the oxygen assistance is decreasing, and she is sleeping outside of the plastic bubble.  This is a blessing.


God Bless each and everyone of you,
Barry G.