Andrew's John Kenneth McCann diary, Sunday 21 July, 1996
Last updated, 21 July, 17:00
John is feeding well today. He has started to wake up himself at odd times, so is not quite sticking to his four hour regime. During the night they fed him at 12:30, 03:30 and 07:30. When we arrived just before ten he was awake, but not too hungry. We changed him and Mandy started feeding him at about eleven. The nurses have come up with a great aid to the breast-feeding - Mandy was a bit nervous about my going into the details, but this is supposed to be a comprehensive account of John's first few days. The device is a "nipple shield" - a bit like the teat on the end of a baby's bottle. It lets him get a better grip and he is doing really well with it. Because it is made of clear plastic, when Mandy used it this afternoon we could see it filling up with milk as soon as she put it on. Mandy has so much milk that it filled up and started dripping out before I could get John to it!
John had not dirtied his nappy all night, but after his morning feed I was holding him and felt some pretty major activity in the trouser area. We figured we had better change him straight away (normally we do it before his feed) and he had certainly made up for the lack of action during the night. Daddy's first major initiation into the smelly nappy changing club.
It has been nice when John has been awake even when not hungry. The sedative is clearly wearing off and he is far more alert. He has been very good though and does not cry often, he just lies in his cot looking around at people and things. When he does cry, a cuddle from his mum normally does the trick.
John woke up at about ten o'clock, even though his next feed shouldn't have been until eleven. Mum wasn't convinced that he was ready for food, but dad persuaded her that he was. Unfortunately, she was right and he wasn't really interested. He dozed a bit and then had some food later on, so we didn't end up getting home early after all.
I don't know if any of you have noticed, but I keep forgetting to change the "last updated" time on John's home page, so that you know if there is anything new. Sorry, I will try to do remember to do it each time. Either that, or I will waste loads of time trying to work out how to do it automatically.