Firsts

Lawson's surgery was 3 weeks ago today. He has made an amazing recovery and is right on track for his gestational age, which is about 3 weeks. His scars have healed enough that he was able to get the very first bath of his life today! I'm talking REAL bath, sitting in the tub with soap and water!! Of course he wasn't a big fan, but it was totally teriffic for me! He was actually really relaxed when we were finished. My mom and I dressed him in a new outfit and changed his linens too. He smelled so wonderful that I just couldn't stop sniffing him, especially his head! Not that I minded snuggling up with a stinky baby before, but it's just much nicer when he's REALLY clean, not just 'spit shined'. ;)

Yesterday, my mom and I both got our first chance to feed Lawson his bottle. I've had time to work through my disappointment of not being able to breastfeed and really enjoyed feeding him the bottle. I've also had time to come up with some 'pros' for bottle feeding. 1)He's still getting my breastmilk, just through a bottle. 2)We know exactly how much he's eating. 3)Anyone can feed him, not just me, so daddy and mamaw can bond with him too-and very soon Lacey! 4)When he wakes up in the middle of the night, Brian can be the one to get up with him!! LOL ;)

Since Lawson moved into his 'big boy bed' his nurses have been looking for a mobile. Apparently there are several around the NICU that babies can use during their stay. Since all of the ones they have were in use, my mom and I went and bought him one and he loved it! So Lawson got his first mobile yesterday.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the TCN is a large room with about 14 bed spaces. Pretty much every space in the whole place is directly beside another space, except one, which we call the 'penthouse'. It's in a corner with lots of room. Another little baby, whose parents we've gotten to know over the past few weeks had been in Lawson's room when he was in the Intensive Care Nursery. She got moved to TCN before we did and was in the 'penthouse' when we got there. We were next door neighbors until today . . . Little Ms. Katie got to go home today! So Lawson got upgraded to the penthouse.

Hopefully Lawson will be inspired by Katie's progress and start taking more from his bottles. The nurse who had been taking care of her today before she left said, "Oh Lawson took 25ml this time? That's what Katie did just a week ago and she's headed home today!!" Keep praying!! Here's a pic of my clean boy!