Little Piglet

No one in either the Gleaton or Deaner clans have ever been accused of being a dainty eater.  Charlotte is not going to be the exception to this rule.  After three consecutive days of weight loss (completely normal just like any newborn) she appears to have turned the corner.  She was born at 3 pounds 12 ounces or 1700g.  After day one she lost 50g or 1.7 ounces, the second day 20g or .7 ounces and day three a loss of 10g/.35 ounces more, weighing in at approximately 3 pounds 9 ounces.  As of today she was back up to 1680g or 3 pounds 11.2 ounces.  I think by tomorrow, knock on wood, she will be back up to her birth weight.

Above is the first time that Deaner and I got to watch her take a bottle.  I am pretty sure it was on Tuesday night but honestly all my days are blurring together right now.  I couldn't believe that she took the whole thing but she did, and I was impressed.  The NICU nurses told us that they feed her from a bottle every time she is wide awake but that she gets milk through her feeding tube if she is drowsy or sleeping.  I've been pumping and while I'm not producing much at all, I think she started to get my milk today.  Since she is under 33 weeks my milk has to be frozen for 24 hours before she can have it.  

I don't think that Charlotte has that alien look that many preemie babies but seeing her next to Deaner's hands sort of gives an idea of just how small she is.  It always surprises me when they lift her out of her "carrying case" for me to hold, just how tiny she is.  Those are preemie diapers that practically wrap around her twice.

 The preemie binky practically takes up her entire face.  It's a huge difference from having an almost eight and a half pound chunker the first go around.

Here is her scary live long and prosper greeting.  Evans was very concerned that the picture was blue but it was just the light from someone else's bilirubin light.  We have been trying to make it up the hospital twice a day on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays when Evans has school but Tuesdays and Thursday we take one long visit.  Imagine Deaner's surprise when our across the street neighbors came through the hospital doors this afternoon while we were there visiting.  He initially thought perhaps they were there to see us (though this didn't make any sense since no one but us can see Charlotte) but it turns out that their three year old had a Lego stuck in his nose.  Pretty comical (probably not as much for them).  

We are looking forward to seeing if Miss C gained any weight tomorrow morning and getting to snuggle with her the best we can.  It's sad to leave her there every night but at this point, I would be way too scared to bring her home even if that was an option.  For now we will just keep having positive weight gaining hopes for Charlotte!!  I'll post more when we have some more updates!