Babies and Boredom

Friends, I'm not gonna write much today, cuz I'm tired and out of sorts and the human is exhausted. We just wanted to let you know that little boy is doing well. The human has been helping him latch onto me instead of syringing him. He was struggling so much against the syringe that he was using all the milk for the energy it took to fight her, so he wasn't gaining at all. She tried and tried, but that just wasn't working. He's stupid. He sucks wherever his mouth lands, whether that's my stitches, my skin, my fur, the human's finger or, just occasionally, a nipple. So for ages, well, ever since I last posted, actually, the human kept sitting with us every time my other little mousies were having a drink. She would find a nipple (I quickly got over my embarrassment at her touching them), then put his mouth against it and just held him there. He struggled, he fought, he screamed until I was convinced she was killing him and I tried to lie on him to protect him. That made the human even more frustrated, so she had to hold my head away with one hand, and plug him in with the other. After about half a day, I realized what she was trying to do, and although I wasn't happy with it, I did just let her get on with it. Well, it's not that I wasn't happy with her. It's just that I don't like to hear any of my mousies cry!


That first day, it took him about 20 minutes each time just to latch onto the right place. Then the human would have to hold him there till he was done and stop the others fighting him off. She was up on average about every two hours she says, but really it was more, cuz I feed my babies more often than that, and she was awake every time she heard him crying cuz he wasn't getting any.


Gradually, he's gotten stronger and stronger, and now he doesn't fight as much when she plugs him into a nipple. She had planned to stay up and feed him last night, but he had a massive weight gain during the day and seemed quite strong, so she thought it was time to leave him to it and see if he gained anything. It was the hardest thing she'd ever done, she says, and she lay in bed with very leaky eyes, making the strangest kinda gasping, hitching noises every time she heard him cry, but she knows that he needs to learn to fight for himself, cuz she can't be there holding his head to me every minute till he's nine weeks old. She couldn't resist helping him before she slept just once though, and again when she got up this morning, but guess what? All on his own, he gained a whole 7 grams! That made her feel less like a cruel, evil witch, but she still says she can't help helping him in the day.


My little girl lost a gram last night and didn't gain a thing. The human is so on edge that she went into a total panic thinking she would go the same way as the little boy, but then she looked back at the weight chart and reminded herself that little girl had gained a massive 25 grams the previous day, which is 2.5 times the recommended daily weight gain. She's almost the same size as her little brother now, but the big one is 31 grams ahead of her! He's massive, and such a bully! When the others fight to keep their nipple, they just push gently with their paws to maintain a distance between them and anyone else coming too close, but the big boy will hook them with his claws and physically drag them off their nipple, even if they aren't even trying to get hold of his! I told him off, but it didn't work. The human says that's cuz he's deaf and blind at the moment, so he won't hear or see me. He must be, cuz he makes an awful lot of noise that I'm sure would bother his ears as much as mine if he could hear it!


I noticed their eyes starting to open on Friday afternoon, and they're much more open today. The human says that's pretty quick for Persians, cuz they're usually the slowest to do anything. We might be lazy, but we ain't stupid!


She's been helping the little girl all day today so that she'll hopefully gain some more weight, and the little boy, but not as much as she was yesterday. I'm bored though. Every chance I get, I'm leaving the nest for a walk around. My stitches are sore from them sucking on them, and my nipples are for the same reason. They've scratched my yummy tummy which hurts too, and you know what? I just need a break. The human keeps putting me back in all the time, saying that they will get cold and hungry without me in there, but honestly, I can't bring myself to care some of the time. I love them, but they are an awful tie. My human tried to put a heat pad in which helped the little boy get warm enough to gain weight initially, but it made me too hot and I was even more insistent about getting out, so that had to go too. She took it out yesterday. I also decided that the lovely tray that Mom Trish sent just simply isn't suitable for nursing. I can't stretch out enough, so I made the human take it away. sorry Mom Trish. I know you posted it for us, but I just don't think it's right at the moment. I think I'll use it when they are a bit bigger, and I do still use it at night, but not in the day time.


I finish my antibiotics today too. I'll be kinda sad about that, believe it or not, cuz the human always feeds me them with treats, and I've worked out that if I eat the treat but spit out the pill, she'll give me even more treats until I swallow it all down. Oh yes, I know how to milk a situation! So do those blasted mousies. They're calling me again, so I'd better go. Smoochies to you all, and thank you so, so much for purring. You don't know how supportive it has been to me, and to a very, very worried and upset human. We really thought we were going to lose the little boy, but the power of the purr came through yet again! Oh, by the way, we have informally given names to the kittens which we are sure will change. The biggest is Porker for obvious reasons, the middle one is Hamster, cuz when the human picks him up, he curls into her hand and reminds her so much of a hamster, and the little one is the Baby, again, for obvious reasons. She is the cutest though. Today, she's started rolling over with all four feet in the air whenever my human tickles her chest. She doesn't scream so much now when she's picked up. In fact, she had the loudest scream when she was born, but Porker does now. he screams like a little girl! The human thinks that the boys are pushing the Baby away when she goes for a drink at the milk bar, so that's why she'll need the help. No way is my only girl gonna become the runt, not after doing so fantastically well after she was born so small! I hope you enjoyed the pictures from yesterday. Thank you again, Mom Trish!