Smiles and Daddy's Pinky

Hi Everyone,

I hope that all is well.

We visited Isaac again today. He seemed about the same. He's still taking 10ml per feeding, having difficulty breathing and still on medication for CLD, blood pressure and circulatory problems.

But we could have sworn that he smiled today!!! I know it probably is our imagination but doesn't it look like he is smiling? He also looked just a little chubbier today, especially in his cheeks and while he still seemed tired and a little out of it, he was much more responsive than in the past couple of visits.

While probably against one of our hospital's many many rules, Sonia and I read yesterday night that at 26 weeks it is ok to feed your pinky to your baby. To be honest, after I read that, it was all I could think about until we actually saw him today!

It was so amazing! Sonia made sure I was trim and clean and I got to touch him first today. Isaac took to my pinky so naturally. It was such an experience. He seemed to be so comfortable doing it, suckling, chewing and gnawing. I could feel his little gums and tongue and his cheecks, I wish that I had some of Sonia's milk on it so that he could see how wonderful it is.

Isaac was so expressive with his hands today after I took my pinky away. It almost seemed like he missed it and wanted more. He had his little finger in his mouth, then under his chin and then back in his mouth. He was so cute. We were also so grateful that there weren't too many breathing dramatics today (there were still some but no manual pumping at least).

In any event, weekends can get sketchy as the doctors are not around generally. We were also told that we would get a lot of important test results next Wednesday (brain scan, lung x-ray, thyroid test, weight, etc...). It has been such a tumultuous week that we're really afraid of the brain scan but watching Isaac today melted all of our worries away for a moment.

God bless,

Jong