Tired...

 

The nugget is tired. She sleeps when she should be eating. I never thought I would be wary of a sleeping baby but then it never occurred to me that my child would not have an interest in eating. I figured she had the potential to be a sleeper since I am a legendary sleeper. I slept through a tornado my senior year of college, with my window open. I woke up and there was water all over my night table and my alarm clock had been flooded. I also really enjoy food, and I really like it when I do not have to do much to get it. So it should not surprise me that the nugget prefers to have her milk directly deposited into her stomach via a tube rather than actually work to drink it. Even though we are holding the bottle, she just can't be bothered. She has managed to drink almost half her bottle, a whole 3/4 an ounce before she gives out. She can manage the whole suck, swallow, breathe trick that is common to hear in the NICU but it is the energy involved in eating she hasn't mastered yet.

 

Patience, Patience, Patience.

 

I keep telling myself it will happen. She will get the hang of this. She wants to come home. However, this is the obstacle that is currently standing in the way of her going home, meeting her siblings, and significantly reducing the amount of time we spend with medical professionals- well, at least in any official capacity. She isn't listening to my pleas, my story telling skills need to improve apparently. I have tried to make our home sound magical and she is not buying it. I told her all about her siblings and how disappointed they are that they have not met her. Bribery clearly wont work on her but I tried anyway. I know she has good hearing, the audiologist has confirmed it.  

 

So we wait. As patiently as we can. She is chunking up nicely, she topped the scales last night at a mighty 4 lbs 4.6 ozs. She has grown almost 2 inches in the last three weeks and she is also growing into her very long, spider monkey-like limbs. She has a long body for someone so tiny. A lot of the preemie outfits are not long enough for her, although she could stuff another child in the body portion of the outfit. She has generally been a content, calm baby  As long as she is not agitated or messed with, a trait clearly inherited from her father. The easy going part is definitely from my gene pool.