Breast Fed Gavin for the First Time Today

This morning I met with the lactation specialist (Debbie) so she could help me with my first breast feeding experience. Its not as hard or horrible as some people make it out to be. I felt it was more relaxing and soothing for Gavin and me. Since Gavin is a preemie Debbie gave me a nipple shield so he doesn't have to work so hard to keep the nipple in the back of his mouth and so he gets use to the transition from the bottle to the breast. For the first feeding he wasn't sucking as well because he isn't use to sucking so hard to get milk. The next feeding he sucked much better. I have to weigh him with his clothes and a new diaper on before he eats and after to see how many mils he is getting. The rest of his feeding is taken by bottle if he didn't get up to 35 mils during breast feeding. He did really good today for his first time.

I talked to the doctor taking over for Gavin's NICU pediatrician who is on vacation and she said that he is doing great and she is ordering an ultrasound for his heart. She said if that comes back ok and if he gains weight with the breast feeding then he can come home. He also has to pass the standard car seat challenge before he comes home. The challenge is he has to sit in his car seat for 90 mins and his O2 sat. can't fall below 90. I really hope that his ultrasound comes back ok so he can come home soon. Here are the pics for today....

He was so ready for his feeding he was about to eat his hand.