Happy Thoughts

Happy Thoughts, originally uploaded by Ava's Antics.

Like Sasquatch or Nessie, Ava's smiles are often sighted, but rarely is there photographic evidence of it. But now... NOW!!!... we have proof for all of you that may have doubted, but not have verbalized it! Mwa ha ha!

Last night Ava had her first photo shoot for her upcoming modelling career. The photographers are a couple of friends of ours from our church and they did a fantastic job. It took me two weeks to get a photo of Ava smiling, but they caught a couple in the few hours that we were there. They're Pros I tell ya. When the proofs are ready they will be able to be seen and ordered by anyone that is interested. I'll keep you updated.

Ava's doctor wanted us to take Ava in this week to get her weighed, so yesterday I took her in. It was just Ava and I because Doni was talking to a friend of ours from church that had brought us dinner. Let me list the things I forgot on our first father-daughter outing....

1. A pacifier
2. Diapers and wipes
3. Ava's socks (seriously! what was I thinking!?!?)

Granted, we weren't going to be gone for very long because the doctor's office is only 5 minutes away, but still... it was pretty evident that I was never a boy scout ("Always be prepared"). When we got to the doctor's office, we checked in and took a seat in the waiting room. Let the fun begin..... Ava began to get restless and whiny. A pacifier sure would have come in handy at this point. I don't know if it really would have helped though because she was pretty determined to make sure everyone in the waiting room knew she was there. There was one patient that looked like she may have had a migraine.... thus, I was feeling pretty bad. Luckily, the nurse took pity on us (or on the other patients) and called Ava's name fairly quickly. We took her back and got her weighed: 7 lbs 3 oz. Last week she was 7 lbs 2 oz..... However, last week she had a diaper on and this week she did not. How much does a diaper weigh? I don't have a clue, but I think it may have had a significant influence. Today our doctor called and left a message saying that he was concerned that she wasn't putting on weight fast enough. He wanted to talk to us about supplementing her feedings.

We would rather not begin supplementing her feedings with formula quite yet. For one thing, I'm sure that she gained more than 1 oz of weight in a week and the difference could be accounted for by the diaper factor. Also, Ava always falls asleep when she is breastfeeding. Recently some friends of ours graciously let us borrow their breast pump since they are not using it. We have just begun pumping until milk doesn't express any longer. When we feed Ava this pumped milk from a bottle, she drinks it down fast enough that she doesn't have time to fall asleep before she finishes. Our hypothesis is that she would fall asleep before all of Doni's milk had been emptied. Thus, our recent changes in technique such that all of Doni's milk is pumped and then ingested by Ava should more effectively provide nutrition for her than her mini-feeding/naps.

I spoke with a nurse at her doctor's about waiting to supplement until we see what her weight is at her appointment on Thursday of next week. She told us what the doctor had said, but understandably could not speak for the doctor with regards to waiting on supplementation. I told her what we planned to do and we left it at that. We'll see if her doctor calls back.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has or is going to bring meals to us. They are delicious and very much appreciated.