January 21st 2010

It’s amazing how much you can tell about Makoa’s personality even after just two weeks.  After tonight, I’m calling him my “Little Michael Phelps” for a couple reasons.  The first is obvious, the doctors had such a hard time extracting him from the womb because they said he was “swimming in there”.  The second reason is Makoa continuously beats his feedings every time he hits the bottle.  That’s right people, we hit the 45 cc mark tonight!  Praise God!

This is a huge milestone as it’s the minimum amount he must drink for each of his eight feedings in order for him to be released.  We still have a long way to go, but just seeing him pound an entire bottle is awesome.  Tiffany stayed home with Nainoa tonight so I actually got to go in by myself and feed him.  Tiffany has been working with the feeding specialist everyday, but I have been keeping close attention when she feeds him and asking questions.

Tonight I had the opportunity to feed Makoa and it was great.  This wasn’t my first time to feed him on my own, but it was great to see him eat well and not have any desaturations (The d-sats can happen when he forgets to breathe while he’s eating).  It was amazing to see him react to my voice and continue to push for the last drop of the bottle.  Apparently, you’re not supposed to talk to them, rock them, or pat them while they are eating.  The feeding specialist say you’re supposed to let them focus and talking actually distracts them.  I have to say I disagree because when that little man started falling asleep, I gave him positive encouragement and a little motivation and he perked right up.  In case you were wondering I told him: “You’re doing great buddy, you don’t want to eat more for Mommy than me do you?  It’s your time to shine little man!”  It seemed to work wonders.

Hi Papa!

It was a great day all around for Makoa.  Papa came back from China and had quality bonding time with him, and of course he also got some good loves from Mommy.  Here is a video Tiffany shot today of Makoa… Enjoy.