I just got a call from the hospital. I was a little panicked when I saw caller ID because it's 10 at night. Usually, the doctor calls me each morning with an update, but I had never received a call at night. The nurse called, though, because she had such exciting news.
She said that David was very awake when she went in for his 8:00 feeding. She gave him some oral stimulation, though, and he went back to sleep. Oral "stim" is when the nurses give them some breast milk orally. They really like it. They sometimes "demand" it and will fuss until they get some. It is like a drug to them almost and really makes them happy. Once David went back to sleep, she gave him his 52 ml of breast milk via his NG tube (through his nose into his stomach). She had weighed him, and he gained 15 grams (1/2 ounce). This is great! I breast fed them for two feedings today, so it is good that he gained weight. The first day I breast fed, they lost weight. This is normal because they use so much energy to nurse (plus, I'm never too sure how much they are taking in).
Margot was also very awake when she went to give her feeding. And oral stim didn't settle her down. So the nurse decided to give her her first "cup feeding". This is where they have a little cup out of which they let them lap up the milk. They do this instead of bottle feeding while the babies are still getting used to breast feeding. This is so that they don't stop wanting to breast feed because they get used to bottle nipples. Margot did fantastically! She took 40 ml of her 50 ml feeding (the rest went down her NG tube). What a good girl! And she gained 1.5 ounces! Wonderful. I will go to sleep happy tonight.
We had a good day today. I only breast fed them two feedings (instead of the three that I usually fit in) because Martha and her boyfriend Chris came to visit and then took me out to lunch. It was a fun time. The babies loved seeing their aunt Martha. Then they had another fun visitor - Baba (my mom). Mom held Margot for about a half an hour, and she was in heaven. Both of them were. :)
Also, Bubba and I met with the occupational therapist today to go over developmental items for the babies once they come home. She talked about how we should consider their adjusted ages when looking at milestones. Which means if babies should be doing something at 6 months, for example, David and Margot should really be doing it at 8.5 months. We are supposed to count for milestones from their due date instead of their actual birth day. We went over different activities we can do with them and had a chance to get a lot of our questions answered. It was really nice. They will go to The Children's Spot by St. Luke's periodically to be checked out by physical, occupational, and speech therapists to make sure they are developing well. This will be a very nice support for us! Also, we found out that David and Margot will get hearing tests done next week - where there are little electrodes put on their heads while sounds are played to them. They are asleep during this, but the electrodes are monitored to see how well they hear. The nurses say that sometimes preemies take a while to get fully developed hearing due to excess fluid.
As far as coming home goes, the nurse we had today guessed at 2 weeks. We think it will be between 1-2 weeks. We are supposed to bring in our carseat sometime next week so they can do the carseat test. This is where they sit in their carseats for an hour while hooked up to the monitors to make sure they can breathe, etc. Sometimes it is hard for preemies to breathe correctly in carseats because they get scrunched down in them. And we also found out that we will "room in" with them for 48 hours before they go home. This is where we will stay in a hospital room taking care of them and feeding them for 48 hours to make sure there are no problems. It will be reassuring to do that before we go home.
Tomorrow I will feed them twice before going home to get ready for my good friend Allison's wedding celebration. It's funny because we didn't think I'd be able to go to the party (thinking I'd either be VERY pregnant or we'd have the babies at home). But I get to go and am looking forward to it. We are so happy for Allison and Brian. Congratulations!
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