Memorial Day

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me." Matthew 5

Kyle did awesome with his bottles!!! He had his first one last night and drank half of it. Prior to his feeding, the nurse warned me that preemies don't usually take much the first few times they are given a bottle, but eventually they'll get the hang of it. Because Kyle has been sucking diligently on a pacifier for the past month without getting any milk, last night Kyle was given a bottle with a very "slow flow" nipple. This was so that he didn't suck to hard and choke on a mouthful of milk. The nurse put water in a bottle with the slow flow nipple and let me try it so I would understand how hard it was to get anything from it. My friend Breanne had a good description...she said it is like when you get a Frosty from Wendy's and try to drink it from a straw before it begins to melt. It would be a lot of work to finish the whole Frosty at that consistency, so imagine how much work it would be on such a little guy. Anyways, the nurses were very impressed that Kyle was able to drink half the bottle considering the challenge.

Today at 11:00 am, Kyle had his second bottle. Since he handled last nights bottle so well, without any choking, they decided to let him try a bottle with a standard nipple. He did great and drank the WHOLE thing!!! Kyle will receive one bottle at night and one bottle during the day. Once he finishes everything in both bottles in a 24 hour period, his bottles will be increased to three a day. Again, once he finishes all three bottles over a 24 hour period, he'll move on to four bottles a day and so on until he finishes 8 bottles a day and then...we can go home!!!

I was frustrated earlier in the week when Kyle wasn't allowed to at least try the bottle. For anyone that has kids, you know how fussy they can get at feeding time until they finally get their bottle. Imagine if you just couldn't give them the bottle they wanted and had to just watch them suffer. Kyle was getting so upset and was rooting around and crying for a bottle, but was never allowed to receive one and fulfill that natural instinct. As his mommy, I have had to watch Kyle suffer so much over the last few months. The bottle thing seemed like a pretty simple way to pacify him and I hated that I couldn't help him out. God stepped in with His impeccable timing and sent the doctor to see Kyle at just the right time yesterday. Thank you Lord!

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day...I know I have! :)

God Bless,

Jennifer, Joe, Madison and Kyle