I'm so excited

Today has been a good day. Ethan and Sydney have a lot more energy thanks to the extra red blood cells. We can't believe how pink they are! At the 10:00 feeding, both of them were awake and Ethan took in all his feeding between me and bottle! That is amazing. Sydney also did well with 28 cc. We were thrilled. We went back to our hospital room to get some sleep and grab a bite to eat before the 4 pm feeding rolled around.

At 4 pm we went in to find Ethan really sleepy. He'd already had 2 successful feedings that day, so we couldn't be too disappointed. Sydney on the other hand was wide awake. She is a little difficult for me to work with than Ethan. I ended up having our nurse, Nancy, weigh her to see if she would wake up again...and she did! After 10 more minutes, we weighed her again and she had gained 50 cc! Her full feeding is 53 cc! Nancy declared that she got a full feeding and Doug gave me a kiss on my cheek. We left to run to my parent's house for dinner high-fiving each other on the way out of the hospital.

It doesn't seem unrealistic that they could be home in the next week anymore. If they continue this trend, we would move to 'feeding on demand' quickly. That means I would live in the hospital room for a few days and the nurses call me when they are awake and ready to eat. Our friend, Emily (the other mom of twins in the Special Care) is rooming in tonight and they are doing their car seat tests--this means they will most likely both go home tomorrow. Doug and I are so excited for them and so sad for us! She has been an answer to my prayers--helping me to laugh, have someone else to cheer for, having someone cheer for us, and venting to each other. It will be a bit lonely in the Special Care tomorrow.

We went back for our final feeding at 10 pm tonight. It's amazing how we spent most of the day with them in the hospital and yet, we are so excited every time we get in the car. Tonight Doug said to me as we got in the car, "I am so excited." Ethan got a full feeding again using the bottle chaser after he got 18 cc from me. Sydney got 44 cc. We can't wait until we get permission to do the bottle chaser with Sydney as well. This means that they both got 75% of the feeding by mouth for 2 consecutive feedings. They do this for 3 days and we may be in good shape to go home this weekend.

They also gained weight. Sydney is up to 2758 grams or 6 lbs 1 oz. Ethan is up 60 grams to 2930 grams or 6 lbs 7 oz. They are nearly the size of an average newborn.