Good Days and Bad Days with lots of screaming in between

Sad News:  I've been pulling Clayton's newborn clothes out of the drawers to pack up.  I remember how excited I was to get to the newborn clothes (from preemie) and now we're moving to 0-3 or 3 month clothes.  Most of his growth seems to be in length.  He may be taller than me next week.  

We've had some really good nights (like last night--only had to get up once to feed him) and some really bad nights (can't make it more than 2 hours between feedings).  We're having a lot of trouble with feeding right now.  Clayton has had horrible gas since he was born (the nurses kept Febreeze in his NICU room).  It's been a problem since we've come home, but it's finally affecting his feeding.  He screams during most feedings.  A full feeding (100cc) should take 20 minutes.  Sometimes, it takes an hour for him to eat 45cc.  He won't eat because he's in pain, so he won't sleep because he's hungry.....it just becomes a terribly vicious cycle.  He typically eats fine during the night (God hears my prayers every night!), but starts the screaming with his 7 AM feeding every day.  There is only one way to hold him to calm him and if you move him from that position to try to feed him once he's calm, the screaming starts again immediately.  I know a lot of this is gas pains, but I'm afraid some of it may be behavioral too (karma is real).  

So....here are some pictures of Clayton, but don't be fooled....he's not always happy.

 The bouncy chair is a wonderful thing!  When he won't sleep in his crib, he'll usually sleep in his bouncy chair.

 The cats don't show much interest in Clayton.  Tiger might sniff him, but really doesn't seem to care about him.  Of course, Lily runs when she hears him screaming.

 It's really just been this past week that Clayton has enjoyed laying on his play mat.  It's a good thing :)

The video above shows you how Clayton feels about his swing....

Thanksgiving

I'm a little late on this post....

My parents and grandmother spent Thanksgiving at our house this year.  I loved every minute of it!  My brother Jason, his wife Jessica, and their son Jackson spent the weekend after Thanksgiving with us.  My cousin Morgan, her son Caleb, and Aunt Laura came over on Saturday to visit.  Here are some pictures from the visit.

 In the picture above, Jackson was plotting his attack on Clayton.  He poked him in the eye and slapped him in the head.  But don't worry, Craig got Jackson back.  Craig set Jackson in the recliner and Jackson didn't know how to get down....so he went head first to the floor.

Where's the Baby?

Everywhere I go (ok, that's not very many places...), I get asked why I don't have Clayton with me.  I always feel like people are judging me for keeping Clayton away from crowds and GERMS.  I am sure they are just eager to see him, but I get asked weekly by the same people.

I didn't know anything about premature babies before I had Clayton and I still don't claim to know much.  But what I do know:  Preemies are different.  Period.  Most people (I was one of them, I suppose) think that once a baby hits his or her due date, he or she is caught up with a term baby.  (I suddenly feel like I've already posted about this.....maybe I have, but I'm too lazy to look.)   That's simply not the case.  Premature babies are not term babies.  Clayton is very healthy, but he's not a term baby.  Preemies are at a greater risk of infection than term babies.  If he got RSV, it'd be much more severe for him than a term baby.  He does get a monthly shot (synagis) to lessen the effects of RSV if he were to get it, but that doesn't mean I need to throw caution to the wind.  I will not return to the hospital because I got him around crowds too early.  He won't be around crowds until this spring.

When people ask me constantly why I didn't bring him to church or school or wherever, I just want to answer, "Because I don't want my baby to get your germs..."  But I guess that'd be rude.

Can you tell it was a rough night?

Who has time to blog?

Obviously I don't...

We went to get another round of synagis today.  Clayton weighed 8 lbs. 2 ozs. at the doctor's office.  We'll go back in a month for the next round.

He may look peaceful in this picture, but don't be fooled; there is no peace within this boy!  At least he has strong lungs :)