a first bath for Blake!

Yep - today we got to give Blake his first ever bath!! He has been out of the isolette for long enough now and seems to be holding his temerature quite well so today we were allowed to bath him :) It was so nice to be able to do something normal with him and we caught it on Video and the digital camera. He actually quite liked the water and was happy to lie there for quite a while. It was also lovely to be able to take all the monitors off him (even if it was just for a little while) and hold him relatively wire free (only the NG tube)

After I had dressed him (the nurses insisted he wear the matching outfit to his brother - they did look very cute though!) He was due for another feed so I put him to the breast at the same time as his milk feed was put through his NG tube to try and teach him to associate boobies with a full belly! He was very tired by this stage (the bath had exhausted him, it doesn't take much when they are so little) but he had a few real attempts at sucking before giving up and falling asleep. We will try again tomorrow but it's all baby steps in the right direction.

Both boys had lost a little bit of weight again today so it was decided that they would add calories to my expressed breast milk to boost it up a little. They are not incredibly concerned about the weight loss but both boys graphs showed a downward trend for the last week or so, so I guess it is important not to let them loose too much weight.

Max is still just a day or so behind (probably due to the fact that he was the one that got the infections and was sick for a week!) He is still the larger of the twins at the moment but not by a while lot. They have left him on 14.5ml continuous milk feeds at the moment.

We took some more side by side shots today. They looked so gorgeous snuggled up together on my knee!

And finally - I just wanted to share. My mum sent me this verse that she found today and I thought it was just beautiful! Thankyou mum!!

A PERFECT CHOICE

Finally, God passes a name to an angel and smiles, 'Give her a premature child.'
The angel is curious. 'Why this one, God? She's so happy'
'Exactly,' smiles God. 'Could I give a premature child to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel.'
'But has she patience?' asks the angel.
'I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother.'
'But Lord, I don't think she even believes in you.'
God smiles. 'No matter, I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness.'
The angel gasps, 'Selfishness? Is that a virtue?'
God nods. If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive.
Yes, there is a woman whom I will bless with a child in a less perfect way. She doesn't realise it yet, but she will be envied. She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Mama' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it!
She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side.'
'And what about her patron saint?' asks the angel, his pen poised in mid-air.
God smiles. 'A mirror will suffice.'

Author Unknown