Saturday, September 10, 2011

Holy cow, what a day! Jacob is no longer the youngest Shumate! His Auntie Vicki and Uncle CJ welcomed their newest addition, a daughter named Makela Rose Shumate! She was 6lbs, 9 oz - bigger than our two boys combined! Welcome, Makela!!

It's amazing how the littlest pieces can have the biggest impact.  There is a little rubber flap that you would think is the least important piece of a breast pump, but we found out last night that without that piece, the whole pump is useless! Fortunately, breast pumps typically come with 2 attachments (one for each breast, go figure), so at least Amy was able to pump one side at a time - it just took twice as long.  Goal for today was to get replacement little white flappy things to have on hand in case of just such an emergency!



Boys in blue! (Thank you, Aunt Ely!)



With a little coaching from the NICU nurse (who happens to be a lactation specialist, too), our little ones were able to latch on today! Go boys go! They still aren't coordinated enough to suck/swallow/breathe, but conquering the latch was a big deal, and a big step in the right direction! Seems like the trick was in the hold:  they can't be held like "normal," full-term infants to feed, they have to held in a "football" position to have better control of their heads.  Once Mommy had Aidan tucked in like a little pigskin on game day, he was able to latch right on! The other bonus is that it's the perfect position and distance for them to look at Mommy - trouble is, sometimes they get so distracted gazing at Mommy, they forget what they're supposed to be doing! (I know the feeling, boys... :) )  They'll still get their feeds through the tubes in their noses (NG tube = nasogastric tube), but letting them start to learn how to breastfeed at this point is fantastic, and also good for Mommy's breast milk supply! (As if she needs help in THAT area...)

Jacob made an impression on Daddy today!

Jacob got his Daddy fix in a big way today - spent over 2 hours on Daddy's tummy! He napped, fed, stared into space, gazed at Daddy, pooped his diaper, stared into space some more, crossed his eyes, looked around, smiled every time Daddy *didn't* have the camera pointed at him... and finally fell sound asleep all curled up, but not without leaving a definite impression on Daddy's tummy and heart!