6/6/07 update

Here we are still plodding along and waiting for these boys of ours to start really digesting the EBM they are getting! At the moment Max is on 4ml every 2hrs and increasing by 1ml every 12 hours and Blake is on 6ml every 2hrs increasing every 12 hours. Max was doing really well at one point and was up to 12ml but then his tummy started getting distended and they had to withold some feeds and start again! It seems so frustrating but there is nothing that we can do about it! I am fast learning that these babies are on their own schedule and nothing we do will change how long it takes. I asked the nurse today what they are working towards in order to leave the NICU and was told that they will probably be looking for them to be taking full feeds and digesting them well for about a week. I then asked what a "full feed" was and was told that it is calculated on body weight and for Max it would be about 80ml at a feed!! I was reassured that it sounds worse than it may be and that they could take off and start taking larger increases soon. It will most likely still be a few weeks though. Once they master that they can be transferred to Murdoch again and begin to work on fattening up and learning to suck feed. That in itself could take another three or four weeks :(

It is so hard not being able to take my babies home. I get so sad thinking about them lying there in the isolettes all alone under the bright lights of the NICU. They are hooked up to IV's and monitors all over their little bodies and are pricked and prodded on a regular basis so that their little arms and feet are covered in dried blood and bruises. They cry and squirm each time bloods are taken and they look so sad. I often wonder if they think about their twin and wonder where they are. Today was the first day that I think they even got to see each other! I was allowed another double cuddle and this time I held them on a pillow side by side. Blake was wide awake and kept looking over at Max. After a while they had both snuggled down to sleep and looked so sweet next to each other - they finally looked content and relaxed! Max had been very squirmy all afternoon and as soon as he was placed on the pillow in my arms and next to Blake he settled down and slept for the whole hour that we had a cuddle - It makes me think that they must be missing each other and that would add to their stress, poor little men :(

I got to change a nappy for each of them yesterday too! It was certainly different to my previous experiences of newborn nappy changes. I had to put an arm through each port of the isolette and change nappies around all the wires and tubes! Max actually did a big meconium poo while I was changing him - YIPPEE! That's my boy!! that's what we need to get that digestive system working. Never before have I been so happy about a pooey nappy, LOL!