Three feedings

The moment of truth arrived today at 1pm when we met with Annie, the occupational therapist. We were anxious to see how the babies 'performed' to see if we would move to the next level of feeding. Both babies were awake and ready to go. Ethan took in 18 cc (not his best, but showed Annie how he gets many burps when he eats) and was still looking hungry afterward. Annie recommended that we do a bottle 'chaser' and give him as much of his remaining feed that he would take from a bottle.

Doug was a natural--Annie said so herself and she's an expert at this stuff. She actually asked that we email her his photo so she could use him as an example. I am not surprised. Doug really enjoyed it I think, because he had a big smile on his face the whole time. Ethan took 26 cc from the bottle. This left only 10 cc of his feed to be given through his feeding tube! Annie said we could do that every time. We were so excited to have this as a possibility so we can go home a little faster.

Sydney did well herself--22 cc. Annie didn't want us to do a bottle chaser with Sydney today, but said we could in a few days. We've been using a shield that we're trying to break her of and didn't want to confuse her with a bottle.

Annie said she will recommend THREE feedings per day! Scheduling of this is a little difficult--we'll be moving to 7 am, 1 pm, and 7 pm. Not sure how I'll make it into work with those hours, but we'll see what happens. I may do work from home next week. Annie made an appt with us for next Friday and said, "we'll probably be making some big changes then." Next Friday seems far away, but we are excited to be to the next step.

We paged the doctor on call today and discussed Ethan's 26 calorie fortified milk. He's been getting lots of belly aches and we've talked to the doctor everyday for the last 3 days to see if they'll move him down to 24 calorie. Today's doctor agreed right away. That's a big victory.

I also asked the doctor about Ethan's bradycardia (bradys). She clarified that they only keep them in the hospital if he had a signifiant brady. This means that he requires stimulation or oxygen to recover. If he recovers on his own, he can still come home. That was great news. By this definition, he has only had a few significant bradys. His last one was Feb 24th. Sydney's last one was the 15th. We are in better shape for him coming home than we thought.

Both of them gained weight. Ethan of course gained a large amount because he was weighed with a new cast. Sydney now weighs 5 lb 12 oz or 2596 grams. Ethan is low 6 lb 3 oz with his cast or 2814 grams.

I went into the 7 pm with higher expectations because of their success earlier. We left disappointed with both babies asleep and gaining zero. Bummer. This is a rollercoaster ride...wishing I wasn't in the front seat getting nauseated.