Hooray!

Zaden and I just finished a great feeding!!  Actually, we've had two good feedings in a row, and by "good" I mean "we didn't need to supplement!"  At 7:30 pm, after being at the church picnic longer than I anticipated, I fed Zaden at home by nursing him only.  I hadn't had time to pump after our 4:00 feeding, since we were leaving right afterward to get to the picnic, so I was fuller than usual.  I wanted to see how he would do.  He nursed great on both sides and seemed satisfied...I put the other kids to bed and kind of waited to see if he would act as if he wanted more.  He was wide awake but not fussy; eventually he dropped off to sleep, and I went to bed at 9:30 myself.

He slept until 12:30 am!  And since I had been too tired to pump after the 7:30 feeding, I was DEFINITELY feeling full!  He had pooped right as I was getting him up, so I changed him and he was wide awake and alert.  He nursed GREAT on the left side, about 15 minutes, and I didn't even pre-pump to get letdown!  He did well on the right side also, probably going about 12 minutes or so.  I put him back in his jammies, and he kept opening his mouth, so I went ahead and put him back on the right side with the SNS, wanting to make sure he got enough.  It seemed as if he was greedily gulping it down right at first, but when all was said and done, he actually only took about 1/2 ounce and then just kept playing around.  He had a few burps, got a violent case of the hiccups, and seemed perfectly content.

I just got done pumping 4 ounces total!  I'm not sure how frequently I should be pumping, now that it seems he is nursing better on his own.  I've now been up nearly 2 hours, but I got 3 good hours of sleep first, and I still have plenty of sleeping time left before I'll need to officially start my day.  I just hope I can turn my brain off and get back to sleep!  I am SOOO happy that we had such normal nursing sessions!  He was a lot sleepier at the 7:30 feeding, so I really expected him to wake at 10:30 or 11 wanting to eat again.  God is definitely answering prayers! 

I want to see if I can find a baby scale to do my own before-and-after weight check, then call Dr. Z and talk to him about how much I need to work at supplementing him.  If I can know for sure that he's transferring, say, 2-3 ounces at least, then I wouldn't be quite so paranoid about needing to use the SNS at every feeding.  It was just amazing listening to him suck and swallow at this last feeding!  His eyes were wide open, and I really enjoyed the cuddle time, skin on skin!  PRAISE GOD!!!