One Week Old!

We've made it one week and the twins are doing great!

They came out of their incubators Friday night so they are both in "big kid" cribs now.  They are regulating their body temperatures well so one big obstacle down.

Next obstacle - getting rid of the feeding tubes and steady weight gain!

Kendall still has a better appetite - she's up to 2 oz every 3 hours.  She is 1 oz shy of her birth weight (3.15 lbs). She still has to alternate between bottle feeding and the feeding tube.  They give her about 45 minutes to finish the bottle on her own and if she doesn't, we put the rest in the feeding tube. This morning she took the entire bottle all by herself.

Christopher is still trying to catch up to his little sister.  He is up to just over 1 oz every 3 hours.  He still spits up occasionally and is still hit or miss with taking it from the bottle.  He's also 1 oz shy of his original birth weight (4.09 lbs).

I've been pumping at home every 3 hours to try to keep up with their intake and it's going well.  I'm able to get about 2 oz at every pump so I'm hoping to get caught up enough that I'll be able to freeze some for when they come home.  I only tried to put them to breast a few times in the NICU but it's hard to time their feedings with my pumpings and since they are still trying to figure out the whole suck/breathe thing, it's just easier to pump and have it ready for them.  Plus, the nurses are fortifying the breast milk so it's higher in calories.  As long as they are getting the milk, I don't care how they get it.

We've been going to visit them twice/day for about 2 hours per visit.  It never seems like enough and it's so hard to leave.  I could sit there all day and just stare at them.  Kendall has been more alert and awake the last 2 visits and we can already see her starting to interact with us.  She shifts her eyes toward our voices and you can see her trying to focus on our faces.  It might've been gas but I swear I've even detected a few smiles.

We're still hoping they can come home within the next 2 weeks.  The doctors said to expect them home around the time that I would have delivered so that's the last week of October.  The goal is to have them home by Halloween.  My little goblins!

Christopher

Kendall (that looks like a smile, right?)

Brother & Sister