Baby likes her bottle

Lila turned three months old this week and decided she’d had enough with the feeding tube. She took matters into her own hands and got rid of it! She didn’t pull it out as I’d been warned she was likely to do, therefore being very diligent to keep her little mitts covered. Nope. Instead, she threw it up. Her Auntie Meg was holding her when it happened. First came a good dousing of breast milk, then the tube. “Uhh, Aim?” I look over and there’s the tube hanging out of Lila’s mouth. The expression on her face indicated she was clearly very pleased with herself. Dec. 15 marked the official last day of the dreaded feeding tube.

Lila had been doing very well with her feedings. She was almost taking in the volume she was “supposed” to take. For the past few days, we’d only tube her in the middle of the night, mainly out of convenience. The kid sleeps through the night, so why wake her when we can just shoot the milk right on into the tube and go back to bed!? Totally selfish on our part. Anyway, as long as Lila keeps up the good work, the tube will stay out for good.

And yes, I did say, “Sleeping through the night.” It’s amazing. She’s a tough baby to get to sleep, but once she goes down at Midnight, she sleeps until 8 a.m. We’ve tried numerous times to put her to bed at 8 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m., etc. But she raises her voice in a fit of protest, almost as if to say, “I will not go willingly one minute before 12 a.m.!” We’ll have to work on this over the next month, because I return to work in exactly one month and cannot have a child awake until Midnight.

We are adjusting to all of the changes in our life, slowly but surely. We’re settled into the new house and are loving it. Tyler’s very busy at work. He’s in retail, so this is the busiest time of year for him and he puts in some long hours. Still, he manages to come home and relieve me of baby duties or make a meal. He’ll even get up with Lila if she wakes in the middle of the night. I couldn’t do this without him. Really, I couldn’t.

We’re making our first road-trip with Lila for Christmas. We’re going to pack up her oxygen equipment and head to our parents in Bemidji. I’m a little anxious about the long drive, but Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if we weren’t in Bemidji. The day after my water broke, Dr. Fairbanks was laying it all out on the table and said the outlook for us wasn’t good, but having a baby home with us at Christmas time was a possibility. I spent a lot of time on bedrest, envisioning Christmas Eve at my parent’s house with our new baby. I guess miracles do happen and dreams really do come true. Merry Christmas, everyone! We have a lot to celebrate this year.