Sleep Deprived anyone??

My deep thinking daughter

fast asleep in her bouncy seat

she likes it! Score!

Real ladies sleep like this...very dainty!

Sleepy girl on Mom's chest

How our girl sleeps at night in her newborn napper

My 1st Christmas onesie which she will grow out of by Christmas!

Hi everyone! The Whitmires are chuggin right along this crazy journey called parenthood. We love it. Couldn't possibly be more thankful our baby is home. We had CJ's parents over yesterday to visit with Avery and she was a zombie baby! Wouldn't wake up for anything. But I'm glad they were able to spend some time with her. 

I've noticed that she is waking up and crying more and more before its time for her to eat, which is a good thing. We love hunger cues! So instead of her schedule of 8:30, 11:30, 2:30 and 5:30, its been more like 8:15, 11:00, 2:20, and 4:59. I've also been feeding her anywhere from 75-80 mL's in every bottle. And she's taking it like a champ! I can't wait for her to have some fat rolls on her. Compared to when she left the NICU less than a week ago, she was eating 55-60 mL's in her bottles. So this is great news. The more and more she eats and gains weight, the closer we are to being able to cluster feeding her during the day and perhaps trick her into sleeping more than 2.5 hours continuously during the night. 

As it stands right now in general, I feed her the 8:30 bottle and she falls pretty quickly to sleep. Dad and I hold her until I have to pump at 10, and then I will go to bed. He feeds her at 11:30 and from what I hear, this is when it starts to become more difficult to get her to go to sleep. She will fuss and squirm for about 30 minutes. I think he pretty much comes in and puts her down a little after midnight and with any luck she only grunts and groans for about 10 min. Then I'm up at 1:45 to pump and then get her bottle ready. By this time, she's already crying. Yes, the model baby cries. Who'd a thunk it?!? She was so quiet in the NICU! So, back to the crying. At this point, I'm running around in the dark trying to get my milk into the freezer, while warming her bottle and getting everything set up in her nursery so that the transition between diaper and feeding is seamless for her. I'm rushing into our bedroom to try and scoop her up before she wakes up CJ, so sometimes these things I'm doing are performed one handed. You can't pay for that skill, my friends. Thank God my kid only weighs about 6 pounds. By this feeding, the booger is wide awake. The first couple days I would (after an hour of rocking) just resign myself to the fact that she wasn't going to go to sleep in my arms, so I would put her back in her bed and turn the vibration feature on. And pray for quiet. This would only last approx 12 minutes, at which point she spits her pacifier out and starts to cry in earnest. The only thing that calms her is to be held. So, I get us both up and come onto the couch where she passes out and I half-sleep until she starts crying at 5 to eat again. Enter me stage left... "Dad... DAD..... Christopher! You need to wake up and feed the baby, she's ready to eat early please." He's such a fantastic partner and father. He drags himself up and gets all her stuff ready so that I can crawl into bed and get 2 more hours of sleep until I have to pump again. She doesn't really go back to sleep after her 5:30 bottle either, so sometimes CJ will stay up with her and try everything he can to get her to just shut her sweet baby eyes. I'm up at 7, and then feed her at 8-8:30. From there its pretty easy. By this time, she has tuckered herself out and falls asleep really quickly after eating. So I will either hold her and nap for a bit, or do things around the house while she naps in her carseat or bouncy seat. 

All in all, we are still getting into a routine that works for us. Her first pediatrician appointment went great! On Tuesday she was 5 lbs, 7 oz! All her reflexes and heart and everything sounded and looked great. She got a gold star of health! We were so happy. Her next appt is her 2 month checkup, where I believe she will receive her first round of vaccines. They will also see if she is gaining weight steadily, and if so, we should be green-lighted to start trying to feed her 8-10 times during the day (or every 2 hours instead of 3) and then just letting her sleep as long as she wants during the night. Which, if right now is any indication, won't be that long. But CJ is really needing to sleep more and ya know, I wouldn't mind a few more minutes of shut eye at night either : ) I just don't want to overwhelm her again and tire her out and her shut down and refuse to eat like she did in the NICU. I don't know what will happen, and that is obviously a little scary. I just want to make the best decisions for her, and right now, I feel like she's still so little... I don't know. We will cross that bridge when we get to it. 

I also made the 2 appts for her to be evaluated by developmental therapists, so that will be at the end of December and beginning of January. I think she's doing fine so far- they asked me a series of questions about things she is/isn't doing (such as making eye contact, kicking her feet, reacting to bright lights and loud sounds, etc). I answered yes to all of them, so I can only assume she's on track thus far. But with preemies they have an adjusted age and an actual age, and everyone evaluates her differently. For example, her actual age is 6 wks and 5 days. But her adjusted age is 37 wks 5 days gestational. Meaning she shouldn't have even been born yet. So after December 18th, we start counting her adjusted age in actual numbers. On January 18th, she will be 1 month adjusted age, but 3 months and 3 days actual age. She will probably at that point look like her adjusted age and not her actual one, at least the babies I see on thebump.com do. Her milestones that she needs to hit will that of her adjusted age as well. She's doing really well on Tummy Time, which the pedi wanted us to do 3x a day for 5 min a piece (but only if she is really awake, which isn't that often during the day). All we do is lay her face down with her hands by her head to see if she lifts or moves her head. The exercise is meant to build up neck strength and is really important in a developing baby. I did this for the first time yesterday, and she flipped her head from one side to the other! Not so much picking it up, persay. Although when she is laying face down on our chests, she picks her head up alot! So I'm not really worried about that part of her development. 

Our days pretty much run together now... as if they didn't before! But in a different and wonderful way. I'm trying to sleep when she does, but I just want to hold her, and love on her. Its hard not to snuggle this little bunny when she's right here day and night! But its been difficult for me to remember to do basic things, like grab a shower or brush my hair. I know that sounds gross, but I literally try and cram as much in between her eating as possible, and sometimes doing those things don't make the cut. Oh well, as long as my sweetheart is happy : ) We're also trying gas drops with her, as she doesn't always burp that well and looks so uncomfortable sometimes after she eats. They are working a little I think, but the pedi warned us they wouldn't perform miracles. 

That's about it for now! CJ is at school and I'm about to go have to warm up her bottle to eat. Thank you for continuing to check in with us and our sweet princess. We've come so far and we are beyond grateful, every day. God is so good! He blesses us abundantly in every smile Avery gives us, every cry she lets out, every sigh she makes... He has been our constant calm through all of this craziness, and we thank Him for that. In the hustle and bustle of life with her at home, sometimes I catch myself mid-day forgetting to pray. And its so relieving to just stop whatever I'm doing, wherever I am, and say Thank You. Thank you for bringing my daughter home. Thank you for keeping her safe and healthy. Thank you for remaining faithful in your promises, and for staying the same when life is ever-changing. Thank you for loving us, for protecting us, for showering us with more blessings than we could possibly comprehend. We give our lives to you, to guide and direct, every day. Thank you for coming into our hearts and letting your love shine through our actions, our words, our thoughts. We praise you, love you, honor and glorify you, every day. 

Hope everyone has a fabulous Friday! xox