My Sister Came!

Around 5pm yesterday my sister, her husband, and their 4 kids (ranging in age from 13 months to seven years old) arrived at our home. Because they normally live in Turkey, they didn't meet Nadia for the first time until she was almost 14 months old. I am very glad that they got to meet Ian much sooner than that (he's 3 weeks old today). I had planned to make spaghetti with meatballs for dinner for them, but at the time I started to prepare the meatballs, Nadia had another fit of wanting Mommy. So Paul made dinner! I believe this is the first time he's made dinner since we've been married. Spaghetti happens to be one of the three things he used to cook as a bachelor (the other two being omlettes and grilled cheese sandwiches). He did a great job. The garlic bread, green beans, and spaghetti with meatballs were delicious. If you look at the color of Nadia's face (in the photo where everyone is sitting around the kitchen table below), you can tell that she liked the spaghetti! After dinner we opened our Christmas gifts from my two sisters and then had dessert.

They left earlier than planned this morning because their youngest seemed to be coming down with something. The trip had been planned at the last minute because for several days all of them had been totally healthy (which is a very rare occurence). I got confused a few times last night when I heard crying at times such as 3am because at first I thought it was Ian, but it was actually Nathan. My brother wanted to join them on the trip up here, but I had asked him to wait until he was healthy because he had a cold. Hopefully soon my parents and brother will be feeling well and will be able to come meet Ian.

Nadia had a BLAST playing with her cousins. She also really enjoyed Aunt Yvonne's version of "patty cake." She was often seen in the arms of Uncle Joe or Aunt Yvonne. For a few hours she wasn't jealous of Ian. I think the same thing will happen tomorrow during Paul's party. Hopefully next week she'll start to adjust to sharing me with Ian as I think we'll have a lot of time at home next week when the only ones who will be home will be Mommy, Nadia, and Ian.

Nadia's babysitter's mom is bringing us dinner tonight. The woman who brought us dinner on Thursday night lined up four other women to bring us dinner over the next 10 days. Those five meals will be greatly appreciated! We've been doing some cleaning for Paul's party, and I've done two loads of laundry today (one of linens from our overnight guests and one of clothes). Some people who are coming to his party (such as his Aunt & Uncle) have never been to our house before. They'll get to meet Ian for the first time, celebrate Paul's 40th birthday, and see our new home for the first time.

I appreciate the feedback I received regarding nursing yesterday (some by comments and some by email). Ian still weighs 5lb 11oz today, which means in 3 days he's only gained 1/4 ounce. However, when he was weighed at the doctor's office he had only gained 1.5 ounces in seven days. I do want to start pumping again, but I've had a hard time finding the time to do so. The three reasons I want to pump are #1 in case we need to give Ian supplements by bottle to help him gain weight, #2 so that Paul can do a middle of the night feeding now and then for me, and #3 so that when I go back to work we'll have plenty of my milk in the freezer so Ian won't ever need any formula again (he was given some via his NG tube until my milk came in while he was in the NICU but hasn't had any since). I'd love to just relax and not worry about his weight. He has plenty of poopy and wet diapers and otherwise seems to be doing fine. They didn't give me a goal as far as weight gain when we were discharged from the NICU or at the doctor's office. If he doesn't show improvement by Monday morning, I think I'll call on Monday and ask what is a reasonable daily or weekly weight gain goal for a preemie born at 34 weeks.

Although he does occasionally nurse for close to an hour, typically he nurses for 10-25 minutes. I let him stay on one side as long as he keeps nursing. If he starts falling asleep after only nursing less than 10 minutes, then I do try to keep him awake. Sometimes I change his diaper after he finishes one side as a way to wake him up before switching sides. Sometimes he just nurses on one side during a feeding, and other times he nurses 20-25 minutes per side. I try to nurse him every two hours, but sometimes he just won't wake up. Sometimes he cries while I change his diaper but then immediately falls back asleep when I try to nurse him. His best nursing sessions are when he wakes up on his own rather than when I wake him up because of how much time has passed. The NICU doctor said to nurse him every 2-3 hours during the day and not to let more than 4 hours pass at night. I appreciate the feedback and also the prayers on his behalf. I will be one VERY, VERY, VERY happy lady when I see the scale read 5lb 12oz. I don't want to see 5lb 11oz any more!