Day 10

Today we met with Annie again--the occupational therapist. She showed us the stretches for Ethan's foot. A doctor will come to cast or splint it next Monday. Annie also talked with the doctor that was on shift about doing non-nutritive feedings as well as holding every day. This means that I will hold them on one of two shifts (6 am-6 pm or 6 pm to 6 am) and then on the other shift I will try non-nutritive feeding. The non-nutritive feeding means that I practice feeding them after I've pumped. Sorry if this is TMI for some of you. If so, you can skip the following paragraph. :)

I practiced with both babies and both babies were able to latch on with their tiny mouths. It felt like a little miracle. She helped me know how to teach them to suck. This reflex isn't developed until 34 weeks gestation. You may be thinking, 'that's in one week', but they develop slower outside the womb, so they need to be taught. She showed us how to put my finger in their mouths and put pressure on their palate and then to stroke their tongue to teach them to bring it to the front of their mouth. They were good learners. Sydney did a little better than Ethan, but she was also more alert. Ethan was really sleepy.

I will do this every day and see how they do before moving to actual nutritive feedings. They will need to learn to swallow and breathe at the same time before we get there, but it's getting closer. His nurse today, Brad, said that once they round that corner, they will gain weight so fast and be ready to go home soon after that. He said it may not feel as fast to us as it does to their nurses.

Annie also got approval for Doug to hold each baby after I finish the non-nutritive feeding. He was pretty happy with that news. We got extra, extra long holds today because a new baby arrived in the NICU while we were holding that seemed pretty sick. The doctors and nurses were scrambling, and they're usually pretty calm and collected. They had every nurse working on that baby and no one to come and take our babies and put them back in their bed--we were okay with that.

Here is a shot we got of their feet--it was hard to tell what foot belonged to whom at first. We've realized why Sydney was camped out so low in my belly today watching Ethan sprawl out all over. He's always got his legs on top of her, or in her diaper like last night.

I think I am heading back to work tomorrow--mornings only for right now I think. I plan to spend the afternoon and early evening with the babies. It will make for a busier day, but the weeks will pass faster until they are home. Also, I'll save my leave for when the babies are home. The big reason is that our insurance is through my work--so I want to make sure we have coverage. I'm nervous, but also anxious to have a routine.