Growing Girls

This week has been interesting....it hasn't exactly been hard-just an adjustment. Bobby said the other night, "I thought it was supposed to get easier to wake up in the middle of the night but it is getting harder!" This is true-it has been harder to wake up at 12 and 3. They are perfect angels and eat and go right back to sleep but it is getting the bottles warmed, changing diapers, feeding/burping, and then pumping which takes time. Thank goodness they go right back to sleep. They are such good babies-I swear we are so lucky to have such easy babies.

The room air challenge didn't go according to plan for Avery (well, according to MY plan). She still needs a tiny bit of o2 when she sleeps and when she is awake but when she is eating she is perfect-which the respiratory therapist was shocked about...most preemies struggle when they are eating but not my girl! Fast forward to Thursday's dr. appointment--Avery is going to do a room air challenge at home with me (since we have Brooklynn's pulse ox) for 6 hours before our 1:00 dr. appointment. Then I can go see him, let him know how it went, and he can decide then if she needs to be on it. He said that she is on such a tiny amount that she will probably be fine. Brooklynn has a little bit longer to go but I also suspect based on her pulse ox readings, that she can be weened to 1/32 of a liter (she is on 1/16) because her readings are in the high 90's with 1/16.

They have grown too!! :) Avery has put on 8 ounces in a week!!!!!! She is 6 pounds 9 ounces. She is a great eater. Shhhhh...I can ever prop her bottle when I get in a hairy situation during the day and they BOTH want to eat at the same time. Don't worry, I'm always right there next to her and watching and checking on her the whole time. This doesn't happen a lot but it is nice to know that if they both HAD to eat at the same time that I have a plan. She is very alert. She sleeps a lot but has more wakeful time than even last week. She looks you in the eyes and likes to look around and towards loud sounds (ahem, Jake and Bailey). We have been doing tummy time although not successfully. She likes to be on her tummy and always falls asleep in a matter of minutes. Her head is soooo strong. She is constantly holding her head up when she is on your shoulder. She just amazes me. At night she tends to get a little more fussy-not terribly of course. She wants to be held and wants a pacifier in her mouth at the same time. Avery is really good about keeping the pacifier in her mouth by herself but if it falls out of her mouth it is the end of the world. It is so funny to watch her little melt down and see Bobby and I moving so quickly to stick it back in her mouth. Talk about tag teaming these little girls. I got the green light to do more breastfeeding with her and do less bottles. I have been doing about 1/2 and 1/2 and by next week the dr said it was okay to ween down to only 1-2 bottles a day (to get her vitamins and a few extra calories) and breastfeed her the rest. She loves it and so do I so it makes us both happy. It is a little tricky with 2 babies but the goal is to eventually breastfeed both at the same time. My supply is still great and I work really hard at it so I am feeling so positive that I am able to do this for my girls. I have about 250 ounces of frozen stash. This sounds like a TON but, they eat about 4 ounces per feeding so I have enough to feed them for about 9 days before running out if I didn't add any more milk to my stash. They eat so much so it is very important to me to keep it up and my life revolves around pumping.

Brooklynn weighs 4 pounds 15 ounces-just shy of 5 pounds. She has always gained about 8 ounces in 2 weeks so this wasn't shocking for her but I would have loved to see her gain a little more. Feeding her has been tricky this last week. She has switched back and forth between a preemie flow nipple and a level 1 nipple several times because of dribbling/energy to eat issues so hopefully at 5 pounds things will start to click a little bit more. Sister is trying so hard and I am so proud of her. The dr. said that 6 pounds seems to be the magic weight when babies "get" it and start to be better with feeding and being more alert and looking around. I am anxious for her to get there. She is a skinny little pea. I just love her so much and I know how much work it is for her to do everything. She especially loves to be held. She loves her pacifier too but being held seems to be more soothing to her. I think she has some gas issues because she burps constantly while eating and her tummy seems upset if you don't pat her really well. I might try some gas drops and see if that helps.

I have my 6 week follow up with my doctor on Monday. He was so wonderful during everything that I can hardly believe it is almost over.....I am going to Swedish so I am bringing the babies (of course) and might pop up to labor and delivery to see my old friends (nurses!) since I didn't get to say goodbye and give them my thank yous when I left with the babies.

Jake is doing well-he is very interested in kissing the girls all the time. SOO many people have been so thoughtful thinking about Jake and giving him big brother gifts. I cannot tell you how much this means to Bobby and to me for thinking of our little man. I know it can be hard when everything is about the babies but you have all remembered him and have made him feel so important, so thank you so much.

I'll add new pictures in a little bit but my time is over and I have babies to feed and a big brother to go and pick up!