Thanks :)

Thanks for the comments and emails on my last post. I was a bit frazzled last night. Poor Maya: this was COMPLETELY our fault and not hers. Neither baby has had reflux issues when they are fed correctly. The only problems we've had is when they are overfed. Our pediatrician told us that their bellies are the size of their weight, divided in half, by ounces. So Maya, at 8lb 4oz, has a stomach about the size of 4 and 1/8 oz. Well, the night we had the choking instance, she only weighed about 7lb and ate 5 ounces. Normally, she paces herself, but she seemed extra hungry, so ounces... And we all know what happened. So, last night, we were at church at a meeting and she woke up, hungry (which I expected since she'd only eaten 2oz a few hours before we left). We get home and I made her a 1oz bottle with vitamins, which Peter gave her and she gulped down, and then, since it is easier to make formula is evens, I made a 4oz bottle. (Now, 1 scoop of formula adds .2 oz, so that 4oz bottle was about 4.4oz.) So, all together, we are talking about 5.5oz. She took it down like it was nothing. We've been told to let them "decide" to burp and to not pull the bottle from them, to avoid air in the tummy, so Peter let her keep it until she was done- which was the end of the bottle! And she still wanted more! Peter told her, nope, she was cut off and began to burp her. First, there was a little spit and then just everything. She had this look on her face like "Oh well... No big deal... Can I have another bottle please?" No tears, nothing. She was soaked, Peter was soaked, the chair was covered (which, funny thing: did you know that plain water can remove wet formula from upholstery??? good to know...)

So, I feel bad. And what is worse, last night, I made Peter feel bad. So, he takes Maya upstairs and changes her (and himself) while I watched Bobby sleep and made Maya a new bottle. When he comes down, I offer to hold her and feed her so that he can eat. (Did I mention that I had JUST brought dinner from the kitchen?) So, I'm feeding and burping, and he finishes and offers to finish her up, to which I tell him that I'm not comfortable with him feeding her because both of the bad feeding experiences happened on his watch. Okay. I know. I really do. That was just downright bitchy and mean. And I saw the hurt cross his face and I felt like a monster. I tried to back up and make it funny, but the damage was done. And I still feel bad. I handed her over and let Peter finish and she was fine. She ate, Bobby ate, I ate, and we went to bed. They slept all night and Peter fed them both this morning and, you guessed it, fine. So, I have no one to blame except us. Me for making the 5.5 ounces for her instead of making one 4oz bottle, taking out some of it for her vitamin, adding rice to the rest, and handing that over to Peter; and Peter for feeding her 5.5 ounces when she has a cut off of just over 4oz. Preemie stomachs arent meant to handle so much food (heck, I'd even say term babies arent meant to handle that much either) and it can cause vomiting or, even worse, induce reflux! Which we dont want.

Holding my little peanut now while Bobby talks to us. I have a feeling he's about to say "Mommy, why is she being held and I'm not???" Which, to the average ears, might sound like "WHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"... But for now, it's all giggles and smiles.

***

On an unrelated note, please say a prayer for this mom who just lost her son; his twin sister is still kicking and, hopefully, wont be delivered for another 12 weeks or so... Also say a prayer for Jessica's friend who just delivered her baby still at 42 weeks.