Henry Houdini

Grandpa Kenski visited Henry in the morning. And, Grandma Kenski took the afternoon shift. Henry had his very fussy moments in the afternoon, but he also worked in a two hour nap as well while Grandma held him.

Henry's weight today: 5 lbs 13.5 oz

Having my parents around has been quite helpful because it allows me to get things done around the house. Today's mission was reorganizing our freezer space. Because Henry wasn't ingesting much breast milk initially (micropreemies don't eat much in the early days outside the womb), we have a backlog of frozen breast milk. I was initially inclined to do the so called "pump and dump," but everyone in the NICU said to freeze it. I think that they really push mothers to freeze it because many mothers stop breastfeeding after a few months. And, they want preemies especially to be on breast milk as long as possible. Statistics vary across studies, but something like 74% of women start off breast feeding. This drops to 34-39% after a few months. I would suspect that for NICU moms, the drop off may be earlier. Exclusively pumping for months on end is well...not fun. We had so much milk that we ended up buying a 13 cubic feet freezer because our regular freezer was filled. The NICU staff told us to ask family, friends, and neighbors if we could store milk in their freezers. Buying a second freezer seemed like a better option. I personally would find it a bit awkward to ask my neighbors if we could store breast milk in their freezers. I transferred all of the pre-diet change milk to the large freezer. Since it was discovered that Henry has milk and soy allergies, he may not be able to consume this milk. Hopefully, Henry will outgrow his allergies, and he'll eventually be able to have it. It can keep in the freezer for up to 6 months, so we'll keep it until then.

Our dog Marley was cute tonight. Well, she's always cute, but she outdid herself. Henry was screaming, and Marley circled the chair that Jeff was holding Henry in. She kept poking her nose over the edge of the chair to make sure Henry was OK. It was sweet.

Because Henry continues to be fussy and a bit "disorganized" at times, Jeff and I have implemented a Back to Basics plan of action, whereby we make sure that Henry is swaddled nice and tight in order to minimize his disorganization (e.g., arms flailing about, lack of focus). The problem, unfortunately, is that Henry is a master of getting out of any swaddling job. I openly admit that I'm not a good swaddler. I missed the evening in the NICU when Melissa J. taught Jeff how to swaddle, and when he does it, it is nice and tight. Jeff really does a great job. Even when Jeff swaddles Henry nice and tight, Henry is amazingly persistent at getting his arms out. He is quite a little Houdini when it comes to getting out of a swaddling job. As I write this blog entry, Henry has managed to get his feet out of the blankets. Jeff managed to constrain his arms, but there's no constraining the whole Henry.