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/Kimball gets his first bottle
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/Sawyer gets his first bottle
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/Brinlee gets her first bottle
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/Brinlee finds her fingers while she waits for a bottle
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/Brinlee is already starting with those age-old questions…
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/Sawyer cuddles up to Brinlee. These kids are like magnets. You can’t keep them away from each other.
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/I’ve received some official complaints that neither Adam nor I have updated the blog in a few days. We try really hard to keep this up to date, but we are both exhausted, Adam is working, and we are trying to to focus on the babies too. We really enjoy this blog and we love that all of you are so interested in our angels. Please keep checking the site and know that we will update it as often as possible.
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/Now for the good stuff. One of the major requirements for the babies being able to come home is that they take all 8 feedings from a bottle for 48 hours. Yesterday they got their first try on the bottle. They have been practicing breast feeding and have done well, depending on how awake and alert they are at the time. The night before I gave them a good pep talk and explained the many benefits of learning to bottle feed. The 2 primary being that they bet those feeding tubes out of their noses and they get to come home.
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/The nurse started bottle-feeding Kimball and asked if I wanted to feed Sawyer. Of course I did. The PTOT (occupational therapist) got there late. Kimball took his whole bottle – a whopping 33 ccs. He actually fell asleep during it and started to snore because the bottle was in his mouth. Sawyer only took 8 ccs before starting to drift off to dream land. When I started to pick up Brinlee, the PTOT intervened and said maybe she should do it. OK. She ended up taking her whole 33 cc bottle too. AFter that I said, “I’m starting to think Sawyer didn’t do as well because I don’t have good technique.” She said, “You’re right.” So basically, mommy didn’t write a good paper, so Sawyer got a bad grade. And they really do get graded. Their grades decide when they get to go home.  I felt really terrible. I told her that I guess I would leave all the feedings to the nurses until they really get the hang of it. She said that would be a good idea. Today I didn’t bother to get there exactly when they started, because I wouldn’t be participating. There was a different PTOT there today. She asked if I wanted to feed Sawyer and I gave her an emphatic NO! I told her about yesterday. She ewas very shocked. She fed Sawyer (took 20 ccs) and Kimball (took 30) and insisted that I feed Brinlee. She sat next to me and helped me with the feed. She showed me all the tips and tricks they use to help them. She was very patient and kind. Brinlee took the whole bottle. Go Brinlee and go me!
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/Adam and I went back tonight for their baths tonight. It’s the first time we’ve done that. The nurse did Kimball early, so we missed that one. We watched while she did Sawyer. He shivered and whimpered and looked at us like, “Why aren’t you stopping her?” He didn’t really cry though. He did enjoy having his hair washed. Who wouldn’t like a head massage? After his bath, I diapered and dressed and swaddled him. I bathed Brinlee.  She yelled a little at first, but when she figured out it was ok, she stopped. Wet soapy babies are awfully slippery, but I did a good job, if I say so. She also liked having her hair washed. Adam dressed and diapered Brinlee.
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/They are all doing well on weight.
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/Sawyer 4 pounds 13 ounces
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/Kimball 4 pounds 3 ounces
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/Brinlee 4 pounds 1.3 ounces
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/They are all off Reglan now, and tomorrow the nurse practitioner is going to change their feedings from continuous to 1.5 hour feedings. They’ll see how it affects their apnea. Another condition of coming home is no episodes for 5 days.
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/Sad story of the day: I have been working really hard to keep up with their feeding needs. I got ahead of them over a week ago and they have been getting all breast milk since. The nurses didn’t mention that their feedings had increased. Today I saw that each of them had 2 hours of formula. I found out why. The nurses turn off the continuous feeding tubes 2 hours before the bottle feeds and leave them off for 2 hours after. The nurse yesterday ordered a full feeding tube for the bottle feeding time. So today I saw the nurse THROW AWAY HALF A TUBE OF BREAST MILK because it had been out too long. I literally almost cried and grabbed it out of the trash can. Getting those babies that breast milk is the one thing I am working toward. It is the only thing I can do to help them. To know that they had 2 hours of formula today and to watch her throw out 2 hours of breastmilk because someone didn’t pay attention to the next day’s orders when they ordered the next day’s feedings just made me ill. Anyway, now I know what their new quantity needs are and I’m on top of it.