What a Difference a Few Weeks Makes

I wanted to document how far the twins have come since they were born.  We really have been so blessed, and I know that the situation could have been much, much more serious.  We were in the hospital a total of 11 days, and I am eternally grateful for all of your prayers and faith on their behalf.  Spencer and Kade were in great health, and they were strong little fighters from the beginning.  In the Level 2 Nursery, they only had to be on oxygen for a couple of days, and the IVs lasted about a week.  They were under the heat lamps for several days until they were able to better maintain their own heat.  They both had the feeding tube to help bulk up the weight gain in the beginning.  There were some days when every other feeding was given through the feeding tube.  The idea was that they could feed them while they slept soundly under the heat.  That way, they didn't have to expend any calories and could just get nice and fat.  Those were hard days though because it meant that we could only hold them every six hours (every other feeding).  I was grateful that I was rooming in at the hospital so I could get up in the middle of the night for those feedings.  I couldn't stand going an entire 12 hours without cuddling them.  

From about Day 3, when my milk finally started coming in, they have been drinking breast milk which has been fortified with 24 calorie formula.  So, they are getting about 20% more calories than the breast milk alone.  We are still doing that at home.  We mix up a huge bottle of breast milk and add in the extra calories and we are set for the day.  In the beginning, the doctor required that they drink a minimum of 18 mL per feeding (they were on an extremely strict 3-hour eating cycle).  They only had a half an hour to eat that amount otherwise they were exerting more calories than they were taking in.  Those first few days, we did everything we could to get that extremely small amount of food into their little bellies, and it usually took every second of the 30 minutes.  We had to stop and burp every 5 mL until their bodies got used to it.  We would tap on the end of the bottle, squeeze their cheeks around the nipple, tap their cheeks and neck, push the tip of the nipple on top of their mouths, etc.  

After only a week, they had improved so greatly that their minimum requirement was 35 mL and they were coming in short of the half hour time period pretty consistently.  Today, just two and half weeks later, they can down 55 mL in about 10 minutes.  They have done so well on their eating and weight gain that I can now nurse them twice a day.  Today, both babies were hungry at the same time, so I attempted to nurse them at the same time.  We made a colossal mess as I tried to manipulate their little heads one-handed while getting them comfortable with the football hold.  The entire time, Paige kept asking me, "The babies are biting you Mama?"  But, we eventually succeeded and it went quite well.  

We took them in for a weight check last Friday, and both babies were 4 pounds 4 ounces.  They were doing so well that I relaxed a bit on the three-hour feeding schedule.  If they are still sound asleep in the middle of the night, I let them sleep a little longer instead of waking them.  They rarely go over four hours, and generally stick to about three to three and a half hours. 

It is a little tedious pumping before or after every feeding.  The other day, I had Macy cover me up with a blanket after I got the pumps in place so I could still be modest.  Her friend, Claire, came over and I was sitting there with a blanket over me.  Macy said, "My mom's just getting milk out of her...um...body."  Then, she walked over to my ear and said, "Mom, I didn't say (whispering now) your boobs."  She's very fascinated with the entire process.  But, I have to admit, I miss the days when my innocent little girl had a much cuter name for "boobs."  She used to call them "knuckles."  It cracked me up - still does.   

A few more pictures of our little guys (who looked so big to me this morning - my babies looked big, not my husband):