The Best Day Yet

We just got home from our best visit with Clara yet! We got up there this morning and she woke up as soon as we started talking to her and she was very alert. Since she was so awake the lactation consultant said it would be a good time to try nursing. I tried for the first time last night, but the consultant wasn't there to help us and we didn't really know what we were doing so it didn't go so great. Today was much better. They weighed Clara before and after the feeding and were able to determine that she did in fact eat a small amount.


They also removed the IV that has been giving her food through her belly button so now she is only on breastmilk, but she is still getting a continuous feed of that through a line in her nose. The focus now will be on working up to nursing her for all of her feedings and getting her off the feedings through her nose. Clara will basically determine how quickly this goes based on how she responds to nursing. She's doing a lot of sucking in her sleep, sucking the pacifier, and trying to suck the life out of the mittens that are on her hands, so it seems like she'll pick up on nursing quickly.


After nursing her this morning, Jeremy was able to put clothes on her! This is the first time she's ever worn clothes. She did not enjoy the process of getting dressed, but afterward Jeremy picked her up and had some snuggle time with her, which she loved. She loved it so much, in fact, that she cried every time he tried to put her back in her bed. Eventually though she did decide that she would take a nap.


So it was a very sweet morning with Clara, and I think for the first time we really felt like a mommy and daddy since we were more free to take care of her needs without the assistance of the nurses. It was great!


Here are a few pictures of Clara with daddy...

I also took some video, but Jeremy hasn't taught me yet how to upload that so he'll have to do it later when he has time.